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MICDS Service Hour Requirement & Guidelines:

Upper School students must complete 45 hours of community service during their 4-years of Upper School. If a student fails to complete the community service requirement, they will not receive their diploma until completed.  

 

The volunteer period for the Upper School Service Requirement begins June 1 before 9th grade and hours should be completed by the week after spring break of senior year.

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​Guidelines for acceptable service work:

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The following guidelines are for the hours for the MICDS school requirement.  

 

  • Non-profit 501 (c) (3) agencies – Various non-profits, nursing homes, hospitals, camps, etc.  

    • Volunteer work should be done at the site of the organization being served or at a designated location assigned by the organization. 

    • Students only earn hours for the actual time doing volunteer work.  Students will not earn hours driving to or from a service location, or for buying or collecting food or similar items for an organization. 

    • Students will not earn hours by shadowing a professional or volunteering for a private business or individual. 

    • Students must have an adult supervisor during time of service who can verify the time served. If the supervisor was a student, the Director of Upper School Community Service may give permission for the student supervisor to verify hours.

  • Places of worship or religious organizations – Students may volunteer at church or place of worship for vacation bible school, church picnics or dinners, service projects, outreach programs mission trips, church maintenance, and church day care.  

    • Hours during one’s worship service time will not count (e.g. choir, ushering, serving in mass as an acolyte or server, handing out bulletins, A-V help, teaching Sunday school, etc.)

  • Political campaigns or candidates - Volunteer work must be non-political in nature and may not be for a specific campaign for an individual or a proposition.  Students may earn hours by volunteering at an election poll or voter registration drives. 

  • At MICDS:

    • Students may earn hours by helping in offices or departments during a free period, after school, or on weekends.  The Director of Community Service must approve these opportunities, or they must be listed on x2VOL.  Opportunities may include assisting Admissions or the Development and Alumni Relations office with mailings or events, volunteering at robotics events, assisting with lower or middle school athletic teams or summer camps, helping a teacher as a classroom assistant, etc. 

    • Peer tutoring 

    • Peer to Peer

    • MICDS Concessions

    • Special events planned by MICDS with designated volunteer opportunities 

    • MICDS-planned service trips

    • Hours will not be given for any activities that are considered to be part of expectations of a class or duties of activity club of which the student is a member (e.g.  attending club meetings, helping with fundraisers, speaking in assembly, making posters and flyers, baking for a bake sale, selling at a bake sale, etc.).  Students will earn hours for outside service projects their club or group do, but not for general club or class activities.  

    • Students do not earn hours by participating in Turkey Train and other mandatory all-school or all-class service events, other than the morning of service for juniors and/or seniors.

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