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Bowie High School PTSA
About Service-Learning Hours
Service-Learning as a Graduation Requirement
In Prince George's County, the service-learning graduation requirement begins in seventh grade and is composed of two segments. The first segment is curriculum infusion which is taugh in grade 7 Health Education; grades 7 and 8 Family and Consumer Sciences; grade 8 English; grade 9 Local, State and National Government; and high school Biology. The second segment is the completion of 36 hours of service.
Each student who completes sixth grade in June of a specific year officially becomes a seventh grader on July 1 of that same year. At that time, the student may begin earning the direct service hours.
Procedures for Students to Follow
- Selecting a Service Site/Location
- A "suggested" list of sites is available in each school's Guidance Office. This list is updated every eight weeks.
- The site must be non-profit based - exclusions include nursing homes, hospitals, licensed day care facilities.
- Government facilities are considered non-profits (federal, state, local, AND school buildings).
- Service hours may be completed through service projects with a place of worship or working on political campaigns.
- Baby-sitting at home or for a neighbor or relative is NOT acceptable for service hours.
- Reporting for Service
- The student must make arrangements with the site to do the service hours.
- Prior to reporting to the site, the student must make sure that he or she has a verification form for the site supervisor (verification forms are available in all Guidance Offices). The person at the site who is responsible for the student volunteers is the person who signs the verification form. Parents and guardians may not verify for their own children.
- Submitting the Service Hours
- When school begins in the fall, students must take the verification form (both pages) to the Guidance office of their middle school or high school.
- The Guidance secretary will sign the form and submit the papers for the hours to be recorded on the student's permanent record.
- Service hours are recorded on all report cards at the end of each grading period.
NOTE:
Examples of service projects and opportunities are on the bottom of this page. Remember: Service hours must be earned in a NON-PROFIT setting. Please call (301) 749-4130 if you have any questions.
Service-Learning activities must include Preparation, Action, and Reflection
Senior Citizen Projects
- yard work, shovel snow, work around the house
- grocery shopping, reading the newspaper, books, magazines
- write letters for the seniors, write a journal-type documentary on their life with the senior dictating the past to you
- volunteer at the local senior citizen center
Children Service Projects
- tutor at the neighborhood school or day care center
- present special programs that have a message to young children, e.g., a puppet show on saying "no" to strangers
- make daily calls to a latchkey student
- serve as a homework hotline for the children in the neighborhood
- create a special childcare day during certain times of the year, e.g., a Saturday before the winter holidays, so parents can go shopping
Community Projects
- assist city governments or civic associations with the planting of trees, flowers, or a park clean-up
- participate in the Adopt-a-Highway program
- help out a sick neighbor by running errands, taking out the trash, bringing in the mail
- help around your place of worship - clean-up chores, teach Sunday School, assist with a festival or bazaar, sing in the choir, babysit in the nursery
- assist with monitoring a recycling program in your apartment or housing development
- volunteer at the library
- coach or help out with the Boys and Girls Club
- help with the Boy Scouts/Girl Scouts
- help with LIttle League
- work on a graffiti clean-up campaign in your community
- help at the local nursing home, volunteer in your local hospital
- assist with special community projects - e.g., National Heritage Hispanic Month, Martin Luther King, Jr. celebrations, Black History Month, Women's History Month
School Based Projects
- become an active member of the peer mediation and/or conflict resolution teams in your school
- develop a plan and plant bushes and flowers around the school; decorate trash containers (school colors and mascot); do grounds clean-up
- serve as school guide during special events
- tutor strudents before school, after school, or during lunch
- serve as manager or statistician of an interscholastic sports team
These are suggested service activities - service hours must be earned in a non-profit setting (excluding nursing homes, hospitals, and licensed day-care facilities). Do you have more ideas to add to the list? If so, please call (301) 749-4130.
Page last updated: January 2, 2000
