How to Log Hours on x2VOL

Written Instructions:

Set up and log in instructions:

1. To access x2VOL, go to this link: https://www.x2vol.com/index.html.

2. The first time you go to log in, click on login in, and then click on new user. Then click on the big button on the left that says that your school instructed you to complete your registration. The easiest way to find MICDS is to enter the zip code, 63124. Then enter your last name and email, and it should find your record.

3. You will then be asked to update your personal information. You may keep MICDS as your address, but please update your birth date and any other missing information. It is not necessary to update the interests section, but feel free to do so if you prefer. When finished, submit the information. You should then be directed to the dashboard within x2VOL.

Using x2VOL

The first page you will see is the Dashboard, which includes the following information:

1. Bulletin Board - links to online search engines to find opportunities in St. Louis, information on MICDS community service clubs and class representatives, the senior service requirement, and videos on how to use x2VOL.

2. Groups and Goals Progress - you can track your progress towards personal or group goals

3. Common tasks - links to find opportunities, add hours and see your service history

4. A quick overview of your service history - hours snapshot, interests, upcoming events, recently completed activities, and notifications.

Click here for a YouTube video on how to log hours.

When adding service hours, apply hours to one of two goals.

1. Any of the hours that meet the MICDS guidelines can be added to the MICDS School Requirement goal for your class. Most volunteering you do fits into this category.

-or-

2. Hours that do not meet the MICDS guidelines can be added to the Other/PVSA - do not meet MICDS guidelines goal. These hours can just serve as a record for yourself and will go towards the President’s Volunteer Service Award, which accepts more forms of service than the school requirement. Please see the President’s Volunteer Service Award section for more information.

In addition, students must:

Include a supervisor name and e-mail (or phone number) with the submission. An email is preferable, as x2VOL will send a system-generated email for verification of service hours. Please note that this person may not be a family member.
Write a brief explanation of the work that was completed and indicate if the entry covers multiple visits.
Write a brief reflection on the impact that the service had on the community and/or questions that arose during the service (e.g. “ Serving meals to the homeless makes people feel like they have dignity” or “When I was tutoring at-risk youth I wondered, why are so many of these kids behind on reading?”) This will help students in preparation for the short presentations made in advisories at the end of senior year.

Hours should be entered within three weeks of performing volunteer service. This is to encourage responsibility and to be respectful of the volunteer coordinators at service organizations and the MICDS Director of Community Service. It is difficult to keep track of volunteers and their service hours, especially when a long period has passed.

If your supervisor does not confirm the hours upon receiving the email, you will need to contact him or her and ask him or her to confirm your hours either by 1) finding the x2VOL email they received and clicking on the link, or 2) having them write you an email confirming your hours, which you would then forward to the Director of Upper School Community Service. The other option is for you to delete the original entry and reenter the information, which will send out a new system-generated email. We hope to avoid having to do any of this, so please just remember to let him or her know to respond to the email from x2VOL.

How to find service opportunities:

If students need assistance finding a service opportunity, go to the Upper School Community Service Committee’s website, the MICDS Portal’s Community Service Resource Board, or x2VOL. Opportunities are also frequently in the daily bulletin or on the May Hall bulletin board. Students can also talk with the MICDS Director of Community Service and student members of the MICDS Upper School Community Service Committee. We encourage students to take responsibility and find service sites and opportunities on their own, rather than having parents do it for them.

Summer Service & MICDS Volunteer Requirements:

Recording volunteer hours over the summer

Since students can access Naviance Student over the summer, we encourage them to record their hours immediately after doing them. However, we will accept submissions for the summer up until the Friday after Labor Day.

Rising 9th Graders & New Upper School Students

The volunteer period for the Upper School Service Requirement begins June 1 before 9th grade. Rising ninth graders and any new Upper School students will not have access to Naviance Student and x2VOL until a few weeks after school begins. Service hours from the summer and early first semester in the Upper School may be entered once they gain access to the system.

Guidelines for acceptable service work:

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
- 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.

President's Volunteer Service Award

Students may participate in the President’s Volunteer Service Award Program, the premier volunteer awards program in the United States that encourages citizens to live a life of service through Presidential gratitude and national recognition.

The award is given to students who have volunteered a certain number of hours during a 12-month period. Awards are given to students ages 15 and under who have completed 50 or more hours of volunteer service (50 – bronze, 75 – silver, 100 – gold) and to individuals 16 and older who have completed 100 or more hours (100 – bronze, 175 – silver, 250 – gold). Please note: to be eligible for the younger age group, the student must be 15 or younger for the entire 12-month volunteer period.

The award year for MICDS students is April 9-April 8 of the following year. All hours recorded in x2VOL go towards the service award, whether they are recorded under the MICDS School Requirement goal or “Other PVSA - do not meet MICDS Guidelines” goal. Students must have entered all hours for the award period into x2VOL by April 9, the day after the last day to volunteer, to ensure that their hours are included in the report run shortly after the 12-month period ends. Any student who reaches an award level within that twelve month period in their age group will be recognized at an award ceremony in late April.

Videos on how to use x2VOL:

How to log service hours:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCOb0qgP030&feature=youtu.be

How to find, sign up for, and cancel an opportunity:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUPz5ZPpBc0&feature=youtu.be