1. Special Events
These are high school-sponsored events that are planned and implemented by our students with the specific goal in mind to serve the community. Any funds raised at these events are donated to a not-for-profit. Some events are a Food Drive, Flower Sale, Senior Citizen's Thanksgiving Dinner, Mel's Magic Moment Dinner Dance (Formerly Portal Prom), Letters to Senior Citizens and others.
2. Community Events
Community clubs and organizations notify us when they need volunteers to help at their events. These requests are posted in our office, and students hear about them in the daily announcements via Canvas, TV displays, and social media. Students sign up and volunteer as their schedules allow. We encourage students to check these listings often because volunteer requests for community events change frequently.
3. Ongoing Placements
This is a valuable opportunity for students to learn more about a field of study or interest they may have. Students make an ongoing commitment to serve the agency on a regular basis. For example, students have volunteered at Aurora Hospital, Local Schools, Special Olympics, and Cedarburg Public Library.
Self-Arranged Service (activities outside of CHS Community Service Program)
Students who choose to volunteer with organizations they have arranged on their own should speak with our office prior to volunteering so that they understand what types of activities will be counted at CHS. Activities that are not coordinated through our office will be counted toward service hours as long as certain guidelines are met. There is no guarantee that activities done without prior approval will be counted.
Recording Service Hours
Students who participate in any type of service need to keep an accurate record of their hours on our CHS community service log sheet. The sheets are available in our office. The log lists the date, time, activity, and place where the student volunteered. The adult supervising the activity must sign the log to verify the number of hours served. Parents are only allowed to sign as the supervisor if they are the advisor or person in charge of the activity.
Logs are due four times each year. The dates are listed on the back of the "purple log form." Students are expected to turn in logs during the year they are currently involved.
Students doing extended service or overnight volunteering (such as; mission trips, camp counselors, habitat house builds, etc.) will need an additional letter from the organization supervisor stating the number of service hours earned. Only hours when the student was “actively involved” in service will be counted in these cases. Failure to turn in log sheets means you risk losing those hours.
Recognition
Community service volunteering is not required to graduate; however, those students who participate in community service can earn recognition for sharing their time and talents. Seniors who accumulate 200 volunteer hours earn a white cord, and those volunteering 800 hours earn white & orange cords (high honor). The cords are worn at the June commencement ceremony senior year. NOTE: Due to the pandemic, the service hours to earn a cord were reduced for the class 2024. All other classes will need to log 200 hours (800 hrs) by their senior year to earn a service cord.
Guidelines/policy information is provided to each student in Canvas, which provides great detail about our CHS Community Service Program.
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