For years, the senior service hour limit required by Wadsworth High School, WHS, has been 10 hours. Seniors must complete 10 community service hours by May 1, or they will not be permitted to graduate.
Every year, seniors participate in a mandatory class wide leaf raking across Wadsworth at the end of October. Students form groups where they will rake the leaves at community members’ homes. Seniors receive five senior hours for their participation.
“I think 10 senior hours simply is not enough because the whole idea behind senior hours is proving that we are benefiting our community before we graduate and that we know how to give,” Wadsworth High School senior Ava Canada said.
Students submit their volunteer hours through the school-used program SchooLinks. They must fill out their volunteer hours, and get permission from the volunteer coordinator and a principal.
“[Requiring 10 service hours] was determined long before I got here, that it was 10 hours, and we just haven’t seen a need to change it,” Wadsworth High School principal Rich Berlin said. “10 hours seems both reasonable and [while] it takes some effort, but it’s not going to be incredibly time consuming to put 10 hours in.”
This year, juniors were granted the ability to begin their senior hours early.
“I do not advertise it because I’m really focused on seniors because it’s a graduation requirement,” Berlin said. “My focus is seniors . . . But if juniors are doing something in the community that’s volunteer[ing], there’s no reason we cannot count it.”
Wadsworth is not the only school district requiring only 10 hours. Norton, Barberton, and Coventry High Schools all require only 10 hours of community service for seniors.
Having 10 senior hours, with five already covered with leaf raking, as the requirement does not incentive students to help the community. Students can participate in one or two volunteer opportunities, and then they no longer have to think about volunteering. Their requirement is over, and so is their community service.
“It simply does not do anything for our community because five hours is not enough to get much done, especially when it is only one person working by themselves,” Canada said.
With 350 seniors at WHS, and 10 hours required, that is only 3,500 hours that impact the community. If seniors were required to have 20 hours, that would give 7,000 hours to the community, which is an even greater impact.
“I think you should have 40 hours of community service,” Canada said. “You can get 10 every year, [starting] them when you are a freshman. 40 hours truly gives time to think a thoughtful thing to give back to your community.”
Wadsworth should follow in the footsteps of other schools, and begin to require either more service hours for seniors, or stretched out service hours per year.
