The Speaking Eagle
Students Wrap Up Service Hour RequirementsFriday, May 27, 2011 By Jackie Anderson
The school year has come to an end for Juan Diego Catholic High School students and many students are still getting service hours completed and submitted. Service hours were officially due on May 6, but Marci Landis, Juan Diego’s service hour coordinator, is still accepting late service hours until the end of the school year. If students have not completed their service hours, they were still able to take finals but they will still need to complete their hours. During the last week of classes, there were 46 seniors, 102 juniors, 84 sophomores, and 102 freshmen who needed to complete their service hours for the 2010-2011 school year. Seniors should be the most worried about this because it may keep them from graduating on May 28. John Colosimo, Vice Principal, and Dr. Galey Colosimo, Principal, will determine whether those students can participate in graduation ceremonies. Some students have completed all their hours for the 2011 school year and are already working on completing next year's requirement. For students to start their service hours for next year, they must have all their current hours completed and have Landis verify that completion to begin compiling next year's hours. "I completed my service hours at the pet adoption this year," said Jennifer Schilling, a junior at Juan Diego. "It was a rewarding experience. I loved playing with all the puppies and helping them find new homes." Students who want to complete their service hours over the summer will have many opportunities to do so. Landis will be putting service opportunity information on the school website over the summer and students are encouraged to check in frequently. It takes a significant amount of time to record student service hours. Landis has to go through each sheet turned in and record the student’s hours. Sometimes she questions whether those service hours are valid and if they should count toward the requirement. For example, if a Boy Scout turned in hours for doing service to earn his badge, those hours shouldn’t count towards his service hours for the school. So she needs to make time to call the person who signed the hour’s form to confirm the situation and validity. Landis says there may be some changes coming to the service program soon. She is looking into getting online service hour logging over the summer, but still has to get the process approved. If it is approved, students will be able to put in their hours online but they will have to bring in a verification paper with a signature from the manager of the event. She is still unsure of how well it will work and if students will be able to log the hours into the system over the summer. It may be held off until next year once students get their log-in codes. The online logging system will make turning service hours in easier for students and a lot easier for Landis to enter the information into the system. It will “help get rid of paper shuffling,” said Landis. |