Community Service
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Community service challenges students to engage in meaningful, authentic learning experiences. This supports the vision of the Upper Arlington Schools — uniquely accomplished students prepared to serve, lead and succeed. Each year, Hastings Middle School students are required to complete 5 hours of community service. Grade level counselors meet with students each year to discuss how to log their hours and general guidelines for selecting service opportunities. We encourage students to align their passions with their service hours in order to support another person, group of people or organization. |
What Counts as Community Service?
Community service is voluntary work completed in order to support another person, group of people, or organization. Below are examples of activities that would count for community service hours, and others that would not.
Examples of community service:
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Working at a school event such as Windermere Kid Fest or Tremont Fall Festival
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Volunteering at a community event such as the Labor Day Arts Festival, the Columbus Marathon, Komen Race for the Cure or opportunities provided through your religious institution
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Volunteering with an organization such as the Humane Society, Mid-Ohio Food Bank, Homeless Families Foundation, Tremont Public Library, etc.
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Supporting a family in need due to illness or other hardship by things like cooking a meal for the family, doing yard work or babysitting so they can take care of themselves and have a break
All political activities must be non-partisan (i.e., working for the League of Women Voters or Get Out the Vote, NOT - working for a specific campaign for a candidate).
Religious activities count with the exceptions of teaching or preaching.
Examples that would not count as community service:
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Having a babysitting job and not getting paid
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Volunteering for your own family members
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Running in a 5K for a cause (the service is helping behind the scenes to make the race happen)
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Helping a teacher in their classroom
If you are getting paid to do a job, it is not community service! Doing chores or jobs around your house is not considered community service!
Logging Community Service Hours
Community service hours can be logged by Hastings Middle School students using the x2vol platform.
- Log into x2Vol using Classlink.
- On your dashboard, click the green button, "Add Hours," and you will be directed to your Activity Log page.
- Click the blue button, "Create New," to create a personal project. Include the activity name, project description, total hours, date, etc. and add any attachments, if needed.
- Be sure to enter the name and email of the person who can verify your hours. If you do not include this information, you will delay the approval process.
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Under Apply Hours to Goals click Apply to all non-exclusive goals.
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You must check the Honor Code before submitting your hours. You are claiming that the information you submitted is accurate and true.
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Be sure to click Submit at the end.
Notes:
- If this is a recurring project, be sure to check the box "Make This a Recurring Project" to save it to your Activity Log, which will allow you to simply add hours and dates in the future, instead of logging the entire activity from scratch.
- If you've done a project over multiple dates, you should enter the last date of the experience and provide some details in the notes section. If you put more than 16 hours in a single day, you must include the details about specific dates and times the service was completed in the "notes" section. For example, putting 30 hours in one day and saying “worked as a camp counselor” will not be acceptable. Please include the details that provide clarification, such as: “I worked 5 hours a day on July 10 - July 15, 2023 for a total of 30 hours.” Your hours will not be approved without the details.