521.2 Guideline: Youth Service Requirement for Graduation from Richfield High School

I. DEFINITION

"Youth Service Activities," as referred to in  these guidelines, are defined as any activities performed by students for no pay that help meet the needs of others in the school and/or community.

"School," as referred to herein, is defined as any school in the Richfield Public Schools, District #280.

"Community," is defined as the entire geographic area inhabited or frequented by any Richfield High School student; it might well extend beyond the confines of Richfield, MN.

II. GOALS OF THE YOUTH SERVICE PROGRAM

The fundamental goals of the Richfield High School Youth Service Program shall be:

A. To involve students in helping to meet real needs existing in the school and community.

B. To help students form the habit of participating in activities which positively affect their school and/or community.

C. To give students the opportunity to devise and pursue new ideas aimed at improving their school and/or community.

D. To involve students in constructive collaborative effort with other citizens of all ages, races and creeds.

E. To heighten students' senses of responsibility for the welfare of others in the school and community.  ("You are your brother's keeper.")

III. ORGANIZATIONAL PLAN

A. Requirement

All senior students will be required to perform a minimum of fifteen (15) hours of youth service between the end of their junior year and the end of their senior year.  This would allow them to perform their service during the summer months also.

B. Accreditation/Recordkeeping

Each time a student completes a given amount of youth service, he/she will fill out a Youth Service Performance form and have it signed by the person best qualified to verify the work performed.  The form will then be turned in to  the High School Office, which will maintain Youth Service records on all students.  When a student completes his/her minimum requirement for the year, the student's cumulative record will be marked to indicate completion of the requirement.  (E.g., "Youth Service Credit Completed.")  If a student does not fulfill the requirement  (i.e. fifteen hours of service) by the end of the senior year, he/she will be held "Incomplete," which means he/she may take part in the graduation ceremony but will not receive a diploma until the Youth Service Requirement is complete. 

C. Exemplary Service

Those students performing at least  one hundred (100) hours of service will receive special recognition at the end of each school year, and their cumulative record will be marked accordingly.  (E.g., "Exemplary Youth Service Performed.")

D. Types of Youth Service 

There is virtually no limit to what a student can do to fulfill his/her youth service requirement.  A very broad division of places where help is always needed might be as follows:

1. Social Agencies (E.g., food shelves, community centers, nursing homes, hospitals, day care centers)

2. Schools (E.g., peer tutoring, teaching assistantships, clerical assistance in Guidance/Career Center, Media Center, High School office, hall monitoring)

3. Special projects (helping senior citizens with house cleaning, laundry, home repair, or just visiting, helping with recycling programs, producing public service videos, caring for small children)

E.  Curricular Applications

To be successful, the Youth Service concept must permeate throughout Richfield High School's entire program - academic as well as co-curricular.  Involvement by students cannot be an isolated activity; it must be an integral part of the total school experience.  It must become habitual for students to "practice the humane application of knowledge, discovering that education is not just something one gains but something to be used to improve the lives of others."  (Conrad)

To accomplish this end, Richfield High School must seek and create ways to make service a part of its curriculum; and the possibilities for such integration are limited only by the imagination of each individual teacher.

In-service training and opportunities for sharing ideas among the staff will be provided by the administration to facilitate the incorporation of the Youth Service component into many curricular and co-curricular areas.

IV. EVALUATION

The Senior High School administration will work with the student government to evaluate the Youth Service Program annually and modify it as needed.

Dated: May 21, 1990 

Reviewed:

• August 15, 2011
• July 15, 2014

Revised:

• October 4, 1999
• August 4, 2003
• May 4, 2009