Community Service
Community service has many benefits. Most importantly, it is a crucial way to give back to our community and help others through serving. Community service also has many benefits for those serving. The activities will allow students to meet other people, learn valuable skills they can use in future jobs, and identify their own interests. For example, a student who loves animals might serve at the Humane Society. The experiential learning from the journey might encourage the student to have a career as a veterinarian. Please note, the goal is to give back to the community, not simply serve an internship.
Procedures
Students must complete the PHHS Community Service Verification Form containing the following information - the student’s name, the dates and times, the total hours that the student served, and agency information. In addition, the form requires the non-profit tax identification number of the organization and the name, signature, and contact information of the supervisor. A form will need to be completed for each agency that the student volunteers at.
This form must be submitted to the Counseling Office. Furthermore, PHHS requests that the form includes a description of tasks performed as volunteer work. Students are encouraged to spread out their service to different organizations. This will allow the students to gain a variety of experiences and knowledge while building relationships with different people in the community.
The Counseling Office will keep a running total of the community service hours for each student. It is the student’s responsibility to ensure that the 20 hours are met each year. They may inquire with the Counseling Office to see how many hours are remaining if they have not kept their own records.
Students who did not submit their previous year’s community service hours will lose the .25 credit for the service, which may cause them to add (and possibly pay for) a class in order to make up the credit to graduate. If students have not submitted the previous year’s hours after nine weeks of school, they are subject to disciplinary measures including suspension and probation in addition to the lost credit.
**All hours will need to be completed, submitted, and approved by the last day of August, in order to receive the .25 credit.
** All community service hours for seniors must be completed, submitted, and approved by April 1st.
