Community service hours are a graduation requirement for all Penn-Trafford students, and there are many ways to earn them.
Currently, the school is testing out a new method of tracking community service hours, rather than using paper forms. Using this system, students would enter their hours themselves on a computer.
Guidance secretary Rhonda Wolfhope explained, “I am still accepting completed paper forms for graduation requirements. We are going to be switching over to the ‘Track It Forward’ system soon.”
While all other grades have to earn a total of 30 hours in high school, the current senior class only has to reach 25 because it was modified when they entered high school due to the restrictions of COVID-19.
Many students in P-T earn their service hours through the Community Action Program (CAP). Projects in this program include the food banks, You’ve Got A Friend Day and activities at elementary schools, but the Big Buddy Program is by far the most common.
All hours completed through CAP do not require a paper form; that’s automatically registered through the nurse.
Additionally, some students get their hours completed outside of school. This can include Scouts, Volunteer Firefighting, Churches or Vacation Bible School, fish fries, animal shelters, food banks and hospitals.
“If you are involved in our sports teams, oftentimes they run camps in the summer or the weekend for younger athletes in the district, so you would get community service hours for that,” counselor Melissa Sutmire said. “I know you would get a bulk of time done with that because it is daily and several hours each day.”
Certain organizations, for example National Honors Society, are national organizations, and therefore every student across the country has the same requirements to get in.
About 50 percent of students finish their hours early on in high school, while the other 50 percent put it off until the last minute.
“Students should try to get them done before junior year of high school because by then you might be driving, you might have a job and classes get harder,” high school counselor Linnea Sherman recommended.
Counselor Hunter Owen also added, “Most students wait and they shouldn’t! They can obtain hours as soon as the 8th to 9th grade summer.”
This graduation requirement was implemented to allow students to become well-rounded and help their community out.
Owen mentioned, “You can make an impact! Ask [high school principal] Mr. Aquilio if you have any questions about if your community service activity will be approved. Make sure your activity assists others in the community!”
Sydney Mularski, Media Manager