Spin-off on volunteering..how many hours will your kids graduate with?

[imeverywoman]

How many volunteer hours do your kids anticipate graduating with?

[Nscribe]

Dd is shooting for 400, but that could be a stretch. She is in dance/theatre/music formally 20+ hours a week with practice time on top of that, taking a fairly rigorous course load and we both feel social life and downtime are part of a healthy whole. She earned 90 this past year, next year she has about 60 booked. If she graduates early, she will not meet 400. If she graduates on time, it will be possible but not certain.

[Jenny in Florida]

My son has about 250 logged at the moment, but is likely to slow down over the next couple of years. So, maybe 350 over all four years?

[FloridaLisa]

It has varied depending on the child. I've had 3 graduate so far and have gone from more than 1000 (year-long volunteering at a hospital, several short-term mission trips and one entire summer medical mission trip) to just over 100. The one with more than 1000 received an excellent service scholarship from the school that was actually more his academic scholarship. That isn't why he volunteered (he would have done that regardless) but it was a nice bonus!

 

Lisa

[Wildcat]

One child had over 300, and the other one will have over 400 if all goes according to plan.

[LisaKinVA]

usually accumulates at least 100 hrs a year (mostly during the summer at VBS, Cub Scout Day Camp, working with historical associations, etc.) . He wants to be a Counselor in Training and work at summer camps, I'm not certain if that is a paid position, or volunteer. I know his work at the Day Camp is volunteer... My best guess is that he'll graduate with 400 on the low end and 800+ on the high end.

[Gwen in VA]

It all depends on the kid and the activities they are involved with.

 

My older three all graduated with over 1000 hours of volunteer work.

 

#4 has gotten paid to do work that she would otherwise have volunteered for -- so her bank account is happy but her volunteer hours are quite low. She will probably graduate with around 100 hours total. Totaling them up is one of those "parent of rising senior" things I need to do this summer.

[Joan in GE]

Almost none (officially)....it is not expected here for uni and there are very few possibilities for young people...though dd hopes to do some 'au pair' service this summer for a family, that wouldn't officially count....

[BakersDozen]

I haven't calculated the hours over the 4 years yet. Add that to my to-do list...

[Sebastian (a lady)]

How many volunteer hours do your kids anticipate graduating with?

It looks like mine do 80-120 hours per year in a typical year. This summer one son will be volunteer staff at a camp, which will be about 150-160 hours on its own. One does volunteer swim coaching in the summer. Another is a costumed interpreter at a historic site. They both do scout projects on a regular basis. (About a month ago, one son worked 7 hours at the library helping move 40,000 books as they changed locations of most of the collection.)

[bugs]

We're suppose to count volunteer work for 4 years?! :eek: I guess I need to do so? Do short-term mission trips count?

[jhschool]

I have a question...would you count giving concerts

in nursing homes as "volunteer?"

 

DS likes to do that a lot but I have been counting it as music.

I keep good records so I could easily switch it.

[klmama]

I think you could count nursing home recitals as volunteer time. If you have to have verification of hours, though, it might be trickier.

[Jenny in Florida]

I have a question...would you count giving concerts

in nursing homes as "volunteer?"

 

DS likes to do that a lot but I have been counting it as music.

I keep good records so I could easily switch it.

 

Yes, it's volunteering/community service. However, if you need to verify for any outside organization (scholarships, college apps, etc.), you'd probably need to get something on the letterhead of the nursing home indicating dates and number of hours.

[Jenny in Florida]

We're suppose to count volunteer work for 4 years?! :eek: I guess I need to do so? Do short-term mission trips count?

 

It depends on where you live and whether any of the scholarships for which your student might apply in the future will ask for the information. (I understand many college apps ask, but you probably don't need specifics of verification for that.)

 

As I understand the rules for our state merit scholarships, church-based activities don't count if the activity primarily benefits church members or is designed as religious outreach/recruitment. In other words, doing daycare for members of the congregation so they can attend services or adults-only events is not considered community service, since it benefits only one's own church community. Activities that are primarily evangelical in nature -- passing out literature about your church, etc. -- also don't count for this purpose.

 

However, a project run by the church youth group that raises funds for an organization outside the church/denomination would count. For example, the youth group at the church my son attends does a supply drive every year that benefits a local shelter for LGBT teens who've been kicked out of their homes. Hours spent working on that project would count.

 

So, I would guess it depends on why and for whom you're counting hours and the nature of the mission trip. If the goal of the trip is primarily spreading a religious message or encouraging conversion, then, at least here, that wouldn't count. If the goal of the trip is primarily doing service for others not necessarily of your own faith, then it quite probably would.

[ChristineMM]

Wow, your teens are volunteering a lot! My older will graduate with hardly any. He does over 900 hours a year at a 4 season varsity sport. He does 130-250 hours a year at FIRST Robotics team. He is a Boy Scout and will have done his Eagle, hopefully, before age 18. At each of those ECs they do volunteer work projects but not 100 hours a year. He wants a part time paying job but has no time after his ECs. He is starting CC in fall of his grade 11 year and will be adjusting to that, time management balance etc. I am not going to let myself freak out about this!

[chocoholic]

I'm poking around on this high school board (I have a middle schooler) and I'm wondering - what is the typical goal for number of volunteer hours? This was not even on my radar at all...the thought that my child would need to have volunteer hours logged. This something that you all knew about from reading...what? Previous experience of filling out college apps?

 

Thanks - sorry to be an annoyance. I just seriously want to know these things ahead of time!

 

Thank you.

[Sherri in MI]

I'm poking around on this high school board (I have a middle schooler) and I'm wondering - what is the typical goal for number of volunteer hours? This was not even on my radar at all...the thought that my child would need to have volunteer hours logged. This something that you all knew about from reading...what? Previous experience of filling out college apps?

 

Thanks - sorry to be an annoyance. I just seriously want to know these things ahead of time!

 

Thank you.

 

As a Mom of a rising 9th grader I have been reading books & attending workshops regarding planning for high school. Tracking volunteering was not on my radar either though it seems it should be. I had no idea that we are supposed to log volunteer hours & judging from the posts 400 seems to be a goal, am I right? Is this to go on the students' high school transcript or is it just for specific scholarships or what? I had absolutely no idea that this was a requirement for some colleges and some scholarships.

 

And volunteering to help in a church ministry doesn't count at all? That hardly seems fair to our children of faith who are active in their houses of worship.

 

It just seems to diminish the spirit of volunteering to have to log it and count it and plan it to go on a resume or transcript. , or to have to maybe change the kind of volunteering you do so that it looks good on your transcript.

 

Just when I thought I was figuring out this high school thing, I find out there's another thing I overlooked! Yikes!

[Susie in CA]

Once community service is required it is no longer volunteering. And the fact that it seems to become more and more of a requirement does take the spirit out of it. It's becoming another 'subject' to cover; and that really is too bad. Sorry. Off my rant now.

[Laura in CA]

Am I the only one who finds this whole issue distasteful? Yes, I knew about it, but I have refused to count up either of my kids' hours ... whereas I *have* made them jump through every *other* hoop, such as testing ... Keeping a record of service hours, having someone responsible sign off on it, etc. just seems to me to run counter to the spirit of giving and true "service." I guess I'm jaded from seeing so many kids doing it just to build up the hours ... and I do realize that some kids need a little nudge to get off the couch, and do end up finding service projects meaningful ... I just have always felt ornery over this whole issue (and I'm not usually ornery).

 

Sure, my kids have done stuff -- tutoring friends whose native language is not English, whenever they ask; tutoring students at the local middle school in math; trips to Mexico for a charity; church-based service projects; helping friends with various Eagle Scout projects; Civil Air Patrol service projects; helping out at a local electronics recycling facility; helping out at local bike races; etc., etc. But I have refused to count up any hours ... I figured when asked about it on a college app, my son (or I) could talk about how one's right hand shouldn't know what one's left hand is doing; "let your good deeds be done in secret"; etc.

 

Is the number of actual hours asked for on the Common App, or on college apps in general? or is it a number that is volunteered (haha) by the student? I know the Common App asks for ECs, and time spent, but I didn't know of a specific section just for service projects ...

My younger son will be applying to very selective colleges ... is he doomed? (I am asking this sincerely.) Should I overcome my gut reaction, and retroactively add up his hours?

 

 

ETA: I was posting at the same time as Susie ... I guess I'm not the only one. Whew! :)

[Jenny in Florida]

For what it's worth, we don't require any kind of volunteering from our kids. And my daughter didn't do a lot at all. (This was partially because she left for college so young that many of the typical outlets were not open to her. I don't want to make it sound like she's a terrible person.)

 

My son, however, really enjoys being out in the community and being helpful. He always has. So, we did share with him that it would be necessary to log a certain number of hours in order to be eligible for Florida's Bright Futures grant. (I took note of that requirement when I looked up the information about grades and test scores.) He exceeded the minimum number in his first summer of volunteering and has just kept going. He's also never bothered to request the official paperwork from any of the organizations that verifies his service. I log his hours, because I've read enough about college admissions and scholarship applications to know it may be something we need to write down somewhere. And I have it on my mental to-do list that eventually I'll have to ask at least one organization for an official document. But paperwork isn't the motivating factor.

 

As for whether church activities "count," here's my understanding: The thinking is that many church-based volunteer hours -- providing daycare during services, doing yardwork and clean-up, raising funds to renovate church facilities, etc. -- are really focused on helping one's own church family. (I'm not discounting their value. My son does those things, too. It's just not the same thing.) It makes about as much sense to count those as it would to suggest that working the garage sale you're having to raise money for your own family to go on vacation is somehow providing a service to the community at large. However, there are some activities that are sponsored by faith communities that do provide genuine, meaningful assistance to the wider community. I think I mentioned as an example that my son's youth group does a supply drive every year for a local shelter (not affiliated with the church) for homeless LGBT teens. They also put on an annual variety/talent show to raise funds for Standing on the Side of Love. As I understand the rules here in Florida, any hours spent working on either or both of those projects could be counted in his total (although I haven't bothered to log them).

 

A final note: 400 hours is actually a pretty high goal. Florida's Bright Futures, for example, requires as few as 30 hours (spread over four years) for the basic award and only 100 hours for the highest value award. Most of the teens we know log their required 75 or 100 and move on to other things.

[Candid]

Mine will probably had between 90 - 120 real volunteer hours mostly doing construction work either for a youth camp for impoverished children or in an Appalachian project where small groups work for one home owner for a week. This is a annual trip he goes on.

 

His biggest volunteer activity will be a fund raising project he has set up and runs from his pitching. I hope that at the time of college applications he will have raised about $15,000 (he's on track having raised about $9,500 this year after his sophomore year). We will probably explain the project and what he raised and how, but not count hours. Having worked in nonprofits, the $$ are what count in a fund raiser.

 

I suppose I could, in theory count all his baseball practice and playing time towards this project, but I won't. I think that's double counting as he'll have it down under his team sport participation. I also don't think it's what colleges are really looking for when they look for volunteer hours (the actual fund raising, the construction, yes! playing and practicing his sport, no.)

[Candid]

Am I the only one who finds this whole issue distasteful? Yes, I knew about it, but I have refused to count up either of my kids' hours ... whereas I *have* made them jump through every *other* hoop, such as testing ... Keeping a record of service hours, having someone responsible sign off on it, etc. just seems to me to run counter to the spirit of giving and true "service." I guess I'm jaded from seeing so many kids doing it just to build up the hours ... and I do realize that some kids need a little nudge to get off the couch, and do end up finding service projects meaningful ... I just have always felt ornery over this whole issue (and I'm not usually ornery).

 

Sure, my kids have done stuff -- tutoring friends whose native language is not English, whenever they ask; tutoring students at the local middle school in math; trips to Mexico for a charity; church-based service projects; helping friends with various Eagle Scout projects; Civil Air Patrol service projects; helping out at a local electronics recycling facility; helping out at local bike races; etc., etc. But I have refused to count up any hours ... I figured when asked about it on a college app, my son (or I) could talk about how one's right hand shouldn't know what one's left hand is doing; "let your good deeds be done in secret"; etc.

 

Is the number of actual hours asked for on the Common App, or on college apps in general? or is it a number that is volunteered (haha) by the student? I know the Common App asks for ECs, and time spent, but I didn't know of a specific section just for service projects ...

My younger son will be applying to very selective colleges ... is he doomed? (I am asking this sincerely.) Should I overcome my gut reaction, and retroactively add up his hours?

 

 

ETA: I was posting at the same time as Susie ... I guess I'm not the only one. Whew! :)

 

Kind of. What I find distasteful is that apparently the only interest is in hours. I'd much rather hear what a child did, how it changed them how it changed others. How it stretched them.

[jhschool]

Thanks for the answers to the nursing home volunteering recitals.

I will ask them about letterhead verification.

 

I have questions:

 

1. Where do you write the Volunteering for college application?

Do you put it with the Extra Curriculars on the Common Application? Or elsewhere?

 

2. Also, who requires the verification? The colleges? Or is this for the scholarships

from some other organization?

 

3.I guess you can't keep track of it yourself and they will

believe you? Kind of like our transcripts?

 

4. If you wanted to volunteer tutoring math, for instance, do you ask the tutees' parents

for a letter? Or would it be better to tutor through an organization/school and get a letter

from them?

 

Thanks!

[Sebastian (a lady)]

I'm poking around on this high school board (I have a middle schooler) and I'm wondering - what is the typical goal for number of volunteer hours? This was not even on my radar at all...the thought that my child would need to have volunteer hours logged. This something that you all knew about from reading...what? Previous experience of filling out college apps?

 

Thanks - sorry to be an annoyance. I just seriously want to know these things ahead of time!

 

Thank you.

In our area volunteer hours are mandated for a couple classes in school. So the public school kids are counting any getting tracking forms signed.

 

I decided to count when I realized a scholarship I was looking into required 400 hours to apply.

 

[shanvan]

This thread has sparked some questions in my mind. Ds has done some volunteering just b/c I want him to get into the habit of looking for opportunities where he can serve the community. But, some of his volunteering is for private individuals. How would you document that? Or would it not be considered acceptable to colleges/scholarship organizations?

 

I have the same questions as jhschool, though I really am not sure how much time Ds is going to have for volunteering and I have the same distaste for tracking the hours as other posters mentioned above.

 

I'm also seeing this trend toward requiring volunteering as a sort of trend toward forcing teens into providing free labor in some situations where they should be getting paid. Not to say I'm against volunteering--but it's a thought I had. Ds is going to need to work if possible to save for college, a car, insurance, etc. Does the volunteer emphasis reinforce the mindset that teens should not expect to be paid for their labor? IDK, but I wonder. I've had a few local people emphasize to me how important volunteering is for transcripts and then remind me that Ds hasn't accumulated as many hours as some of the other kids who help them out. Guess I'm dense at times b/c I did not even understand for a while why we would even keep track or care how many hours he accumulated. His interest in the organizations he helps is sincere, but he's got a job, a hefty course load, and extracurriculars. And I'll add that many of the kids we see racking up the hours could really care less. It's all about documentation for them.

[arabicenthusiast]

Not too many prior to graduation. After a gap year where the primary activity will be volunteering, it'll be well over 1000.

[jhschool]

so do you write volunteer hours on the extra curricular part of the common app?

[Chris in VA]

Son participated in a week-long mission trip to poorer areas of the US, working about thirty hours each week, so I guess 120 hours. On the transcript, I just put it under the extracurriculars, as something like, Church Youth Group Mission Trip, 2005-2008.

[homebody2k]

Many kids in my area count hours because they are working on The Congressional Award. http://www.congressionalaward.org/ The Gold Award requires 400 hours, but other things are also part of the award.

[ThisIsTheDay]

Wow, my dc who just graduated did not have much: Bible Club aide for one year, youth soccer coach for one season. Extracurriculars were few: several years of TeenPact programs, youth group, rec sports fall and summer. I addressed the ECs in my counselor letter, stating that due to (two personal family situations that I want to keep private here), we had to pick and choose to focus on a few for the long term.

 

Dc had no problems getting acceptances to each of the colleges to which she applied.