All students in grades 9-12 are required to earn 20 service hours each year. The students may NOT earn them all one year and carry them forward. No student is allowed extra privileges (this mainly pertains to seniors) if his service hours are not up to date. This includes having hours from the previous year(s) met and having 5 at the end of first quarter, 10 at the end of the first semester, 15 at the end of third quarter and 20 by May 1.
Hours can be earned in the summer. These can meet the requirement for either the previous year or the next year, depending on what the student needs, but they must be submitted before September 1.
Service hours are hours earned while doing volunteer work to make the community—school, city, state or nation—a better place to live. Students can earn hours for church activities (mission trips, teaching Vacation Bible School, running sound systems, etc.), helping coaches and teachers with summer camps (for which they are not paid), donating time at the soup kitchen or similar establishments, etc. We also award hours for school wide donations.
There is a cap on the hours earned for donations. The hours may not exceed 10 for any donation. Students can do errands for Valwood faculty and staff, but there is also a cap of 10 hours for work done at school that is not in an organized activity (working camps, helping at games, mentoring, serving as a teacher assistant, etc. are exceptions because they are organized activities).
Students who want to organize any type of collection must have it approved by the service coordinator. This is to eliminate us from collecting several things in one month or in multiple buildings.
Hours will not be given for students who do things for family members that are ordinary chores (cleaning their rooms, mowing the yard, etc.). They will also not be given hours for working for a family business. They will not be given hours for babysitting and not getting paid unless pre-approved by the service coordinator because of the situation.
Students who earn hours while missing academic classes must be pre-approved by the service coordinator to earn service hours. A student cannot volunteer for an activity that takes place during an academic class and automatically receive credit.
Hours must be turned in as they are completed. No hours will be accepted over 2 months after their completion.
Hours may be turned in on a form, a full sheet of paper, or an email sent to the service coordinator. The form or paper must have the signature of the adult responsible for the activity. The service needs to be explained if it is not obvious. They should be submitted to Vallye Blanton (vblanton@valwood.org).
Students may earn hours for mission trips but not for travel time or sleeping time. A maximum of 8 hours per day will be awarded for every day a student is on a mission trip.
