THE SUMMER SERVICE REQUIREMENT

…Everything You Need To Know

Philosophy | Requirement Conditions | Timelines & Deadlines | Final Grading

Philosophy

The Summer Service requirement at NCSSM has always been a staple since the school’s beginning. The philosophy behind this requirement was that students would be able to give back to their home community, whose taxpayer support insures that students are able to attend the school free of charge. Also behind these requirements lay the hope that students would experience personal growth and have a continuing interest in volunteerism, even after the end of their project.

The Service Learning Coordinator in the Division of Student Life oversees this requirement. Any questions relating to the Summer Service should be directed to the Coordinator’s office.

Requirement Guidelines and Conditions

Students are expected to provide a minimum of 60 hours of service to anon-profit agency within North Carolina. Service may not be split between two agencies.

• Students are encouraged to complete these hours during the summer before their senior year. Please plan ahead to accommodate this request. If there is a serious time conflict, and a student wishes to complete their Summer Service during the summer before their Junior year, they may do so but must submit their agency contract and proposal to the Service Learning Coordinator as soon as possible . Service hours for this requirement may not be done during the Academic year, or split between two summers.

• Because of the original philosophy behind Summer Service (giving back to North Carolina residents), all projects must have some content in North Carolina. The only exceptions are circumstances where the student resides with a second parent out-of-state during the time of the service opportunity; or if the student resides in a county bordering Virginia, South Carolina, Tennessee, or Georgia and the service opportunity is more accessible in the neighboring state. The Service Learning Coordinator should be informed of these special circumstances ahead of time, so that they can be a factor in considering final project approval.

• Students are not allowed to receive any form of monetary compensation for their Summer Service hours. These hours are strictly voluntary and must be unpaid. Any student who receives monetary compensation for their Summer Service hours will be subject to disciplinary action as determined by the Service Learning Coordinator and Director of Student Services.

• Students must submit several forms on time relating to their Summer Service in order to receive credit for the requirement: the Agency Proposal and Agency Contract must be submitted before the beginning of the service and the Self-Evaluation and Supervisor Evaluation must be submitted after the service. Students have the final responsibility in insuring that the Service Learning Office receives these forms in a timely manner.

• Students must complete the reflection components on time to receive credit for the requirement. These include completing a journal, two interviews, and the issue-fact sheet in the summer and participation in the discussion groups and poster presentation in the fall.

Timeline and Deadlines

 <Before You Start Your Service>  

<During Your Service>

Maintain a written daily journal that chronicles your day-to-day activities, what they learned, and what your did and did not enjoy. The journal should also indicate you chose this particular agency.

Interview one agency staff member and one community member who uses the organization’s services. Discover what they like about the organization, what they don’t like, and what they would improve. Why did they come there, and why are they passionate about the agency’s mission?

Complete a one page, issue-specific local fact-sheet about the state of your agency’s mission in your city or county. The fact sheet will be used to compare organizations with similar missions across the state; students should gather appropriate comparable statistics such as number of people served, budget size, etc. The fact-sheet should reflect some research on the part of the student and should focus on the state of the agency’s issue area of concern, their mission and make-up locally. It may include, but may not focus on, state or national statistics.

 <After You Complete Your Service>

These forms and the reflection pieces should be turned in as soon as possible to the Service Learning Office to expedite the process of giving credit for the student’s hours. Rising seniors who do not complete their hours and turn in all forms by August 11 th will not be allowed to return for their senior year .

<After Returning to School>

Students participate in discussion groups by topic. Fact-sheets, interviews, and journals can be used to compare the impact of the social issue across the state and the diversity of experiences.

 Students participate in a poster presentation . The poster should present the following:

• Student name
• Agency name & location
• Why they chose the agency
• Local facts about the agency’s mission
• How they spent their hours
• Lessons learned
• How their community benefited from their service
  

Students can creatively use other media, such as photography, video, etc. The presentation will be open to the entire campus community. This is both an opportunity for students to show off their hard work and to give the incoming juniors a variety of ideas for their own Summer Service projects.

 All students must participate in both discussion groups and poster presentations to receive a passing grade for their Summer Service.

 Final Grading

The Service Learning Coordinator determines whether the student will receive a final overall grade of Satisfactory (S) or Unsatisfactory (U) based on several factors:

• Completed required hours in a timely manner
• Submitted required forms by given deadlines
• Submitted the Daily Journal
• Submitted both interviews
• Submitted the local issue fact-sheet
• Participated in the issue discussion group
• Participated in the poster presentation
• Supervisor’s comments on student performance
• Student’s Self-evaluation.

Due to time conflicts that commonly occur in the summer with Community Service (vacations, Governor’s School, summer camps, etc.), students are encouraged to create a tentative schedule of how they will budget their time in the summer, before starting their hours. Note to parents: Please plan vacation time accordingly so that students have enough time to complete their sixty hours. Parents are encouraged to work with their students in planning out their hours.