For the upcoming high school graduates, community volunteer hours continue to be a difficult hurdle to overcome, as the pandemic continues.
In acknowledgment, the Ontario Ministry of Education has revised the 40-hour community involvement graduation requirement, so students will not be held back by the challenges related to COVID-19.
Student graduates of the 2020-21 school year only require 20 hours of community involvement activities to get their Ontario secondary school diploma.
Also, students aged 14 years and older can count up to a maximum of 10 hours from paid employment towards their earned hours, with pre-approval. If students count paid hours, they will be required to complete a reflection exercise to indicate how their work contributed to society.
“The parameter changes have helped a little bit,” said Tamara McLean, student services coordinator and guidance counsellor at Fort Frances High School. “The students have been eager to get out and do things for the community, but it has certainly been a struggle to find people and opportunities for them to do that.”
Currently at the Fort Frances High School, approximately 30 students are still looking to fill their hours before the end of June. McLean said the number of hours ranges from student to student, from zero hours completed to only needing a few more.
In previous years, students have volunteered in different community events, summer camps, church functions, soccer leagues, and hockey tournaments. A lot of these opportunities no longer exist, due to the pandemic.
However, some students have taken the opportunity to get creative with how they achieve their community involvement hours.
McLean said one student got permission from the land owners of the old A&W restaurant and cleaned up all the garbage around the fence. The student provided the guidance office with before-and-after pictures.
“We can look at doing activities more creatively like that,” said McLean. “We’re trying to be as flexible as we possibly can for the students.”
Students not graduating this year will still be required to work towards their full 40 hours.
Since the 1999-2000 school year, secondary school students in Ontario require 40 community volunteer hours to earn their diploma.
According to Ontario Ministry of Education website, the purpose is to encourage students to develop an awareness and understanding of their civic responsibility, and the positive role they can play within their community.
Last year, the 19-2020 graduating class was not required to complete any community involvement hours to earn their diploma, due to the unknowns surrounding the pandemic. But McLean said, the students who did have hours, had them represented on their transcripts.
Not only does community involvement look good on a transcript when applying to post-secondary education, McLean said the community rewards students for their work.
“It’s definitely beneficial for students to complete their hours because we have a lot of community partners that contribute to our scholarship and bursary awards at the end of graduation,” said McLean. “Oftentimes those community partners want to see students committing to community involvement.”
Volunteer opportunities are posted on the Fort Frances High School Facebook page for students, as well as on the bulletin board at the school and over the announcements.
Opportunities can not take a paying job away from someone else and can not have students doing dangerous activities were they could get hurt, like running a chainsaw. Acceptable activities could include cleanup assistance, picking up groceries, mowing lawns and tutoring.
To inquire about providing a potential volunteer opportunities for Fort Frances High School students, please email McLean at tamara.mclean@rrdsb.com.
