To promote student well-being and community engagement, the administration has implemented a new graduation requirement of 100 hours of community service for the upcoming academic year as well as future years. This graduation requirement was agreed upon by the school district with a view that students would become better citizens.
This requirement was previously imposed in 1972 but was removed in 2016 due to students failing to complete the hours, resulting in a significant percentage of high school students not graduating.It was reintroduced because administrators predicted a new generation of kids would act differently and that students in the next year and onward would be able to meet the requirement.
The administration has not yet set a deadline for students to finish their community hours, but ideally, students must complete ALL hours of community service 2 months before their graduating date; failing to do so will result in students being unable to walk the stage. The administration further specified that students reaching the 100-hour milestone (90+ hours), will have an extra 3 weeks before their graduation to complete their hours.
Students will be able to receive community service hours by volunteering at events, which could be provided by joining clubs such as Keyclub, Buildon, HIM, and others, but students have to inform their counselor that they have fulfilled hours with proof. Students will also be provided with more information and volunteering events in the weekly newsletter emailed to them in their school email.
Students had mostly negative responses to the news. Junior Kaitlyn L. said, “I’m not sure why they’re adding it now. I understand the part of being more ‘well-rounded’ but I’m already caught up with sports and work after school, I don’t know where I’ll be able to find the time to volunteer. Not to mention I’m an upcoming senior and will only have a year to fulfill this requirement.”
Sophomore, Micah A, added, “I believe this is unfair to rising seniors. If anything, they should have made this a requirement a long time ago because it’s difficult to find the time to volunteer, especially if you’re a senior who has less time and will be preoccupied with college applications or other extracurricular activities. I’m also concerned for students who work during the school year if they’ll be able to receive the 100 hour requirement.”
But other students have a different perspective on the new requirement. Freshman Kennan K. said, “I’m glad they’re adding this new requirement. Not only will students be able to connect and help out communities but they’ll be able to add this to their college applications. 100 hours may seem like a lot but we have 3 years to complete it. It’s up to the person whether or not they want to procrastinate on it.”
Further discussion is scheduled on April 1st at 1 p.m. in the Auditorium; students, parents, and faculty members are welcome to ask questions and voice their opinions, but their opinions will be worthless because this entire article is a joke.
