Peggy Revell
It’s the start of the school year and for high school students new and old across Ontario, that means working to complete their 40 hours of community service.
“If I had one thing I could say to students and their parents, it’s to take those community hours seriously and get them done early and also check with the school before you do community hours to make sure that what you’re doing is eligible,” said Fort Frances High School principal Gord McCabe.
Since the community hours first became a requirement for high school graduation back in 1999, McCabe has seen students who have done hours of work—only to learn those hours didn’t count.
“There is a list of requirements for what you can do and there’s also a list of what can’t be done,” he noted. “We’ve had many students who have gone out and mowed lawns for senior citizens and whatnot, but it’s very specific in the requirements that the Ontario government puts out that you can’t use power tools, so mowing the lawn doesn’t cut it.”
McCabe said guidelines for what counts as community service, and other paperwork that needs to be completed, are available at the guidance office at FFHS as well as online on the Muskie website (http://muskie.rrdsb.com/).
“We tend to have two groups of students, the ones who have them done in their first two years of high school and then the ones who procrastinate,” McCabe said. “We have yet to have a student not graduate because of community hours, but we’ve come very, very close sometimes.”
While the school is responsible for recording community hours, and vice-principals oversee assigned students, it’s up to the students themselves to go out and find the work and making sure the paperwork has been completed, he stressed.
But McCabe said there’s ample opportunity to get community hours done, and the school makes announcements at least once a week about organizations that need volunteers.
“Forty hours is not a lot of time,” he remarked. “And we have organizations all the time who are contacting us, and we have announcements and a bulletin board at the high school.”
Whether it’s involvement with a church group, working at the local bass tournament, or minor hockey, McCabe said people who volunteer usually do so in an area that already interests them—something students should keep in mind when doing their 40 hours.
“You want to do something where you’re going to have some fun,” he explained.
“We usually get kids who are library users,” agreed Andrea Avis at the Fort Frances Public Library. She said most students volunteering at the library help out with the events, and that many first volunteer to see if they would enjoy working at the library later on.
Often students who go in with the idea that they don’t want to participate come out of the community work with a positive experience, said McCabe. And he wants the students to see it as an opportunity, not a requirement.
As the volunteer co-ordinator for Family and Children Services of the District of Rainy River, Sarah Pyzer said she’s always happy to sit down with a student to see if there is role he or she would fit well with.
“We do some screening ahead of time so we get an idea of where their interest is, what experience are they maybe hoping to get?” she noted.
“If they’re wanting to come help and if they’ve got an interest in a certain area, or they’re wanting to get experience in a certain area, whether it be for that somewhere that they’re wanting to work in the future, or their academic goals, then we’ll really work as hard as we can to find an opportunity for them here where they’re able to get some experience.”
Students mostly have helped out with events, such as the “Lunch with Santa” Christmas party, the overnight camp FACS holds at Sunny Cove, or the “Adopt an Angel” program.
Older students have tutored younger children who need extra help in school, she added.
“Maybe it’s a one-on-one session once a week or something like that,” Pyzer said. “Whatever commitment works for the families and works for the tutors, and they’ll sit down with the kids and they’ll help them out with specified academic tasks or homework or whatever that needs to be done.”
Many high school students already have experience caring for younger siblings or children from baby-sitting, noted Pyzer—a skill that’s useful when baby-sitting is offered by FACS during the parenting programs that are run there from time to time.
“So if parents come, they’ll be able to be part of the program without having to find childcare for their kids, one more thing that they’d have to worry about,” she explained.
Volunteers also are a valued part of Rainycrest Long-Term Care, said activation co-ordinator Heather Hudson. Students who come to do their community hours there work under the supervision of staff while getting to know the residents, programs, procedures, and other aspects of the facility.
Before beginning at Rainycrest, students “receive a taste of applying for future employment,” said Hudson, since it involves an interview, criminal reference checks, and an orientation.
“This, in itself, offers beneficial life skills,” she stressed. “The experience builds personal knowledge for seeking future employment.”
Rainycrest also takes in many high school students who are doing their co-op placements, she added.
Students help out with a wide variety of programs at Rainycrest, such as events held throughout the year, or weekly programming like pet visitation, Bingo, newspaper readings, book clubs, board games, outings into the community, and even Wii gaming.
“It may be the first time that the student realizes what their qualifications and abilities are, and what they have to offer our residents,” said Hudson.
Approaching organizations sometimes can be a difficult thing for students, particularly if they’re shy, acknowledged McCabe, but he said it can be a good experience right from the initial phone call until the community hours are completed.
Getting students involved with the community when they’re young is important because it hopefully will carry on into adulthood, he added.
“I think it’s something that’s a really positive step by the Ministry of Education. It really creates a sense of community awareness,” he said.
