SPECIAL PROGRAMS

CHRISTIAN SERVICE PROGRAM

Every student must fulfill a service requirement of one hundred hours by the last day of his senior year in order to be eligible for a McQuaid Jesuit High School diploma. This requirement is an essential part of the goals and characteristics of all Jesuit high schools.

1)What is “service”?

Service involves any work done for the good of others without monetary compensation. Volunteer service is also done when students offer to work without promise of reward, achievement of rank or status in an organization. Service for McQuaid’s program cannot be counted for some other requirement, such as Confirmation projects, Eagle Scout projects, Counselor-In-Training programs, etc.

2) Service hours may be acquired any time between freshman and senior years. They may be done during the school year, on weekends, during summers, etc.

3) The Service Requirement is met by ALL STUDENTS in the following ways:

ALL FRESHMEN must volunteer at least ten hours of service during their freshman year or the summer preceding 9 th grade. Five of the hours required during freshman year must be served in accordance with the service theme of 9 th grade, “Care of God’s Creation.” Examples of service for this theme include neighborhood clean-ups, work with animal shelters or environmental organizations, park beautification, etc.

• ALL SOPHOMORES must volunteer at least twenty hours of service during their sophomore year or the summer preceding 10 th grade. Ten of the hours required during sophomore year must be served in accordance with the service theme of 10 th grade, “Caring for the Elderly.” Examples of service for this theme include volunteering at nursing homes, assisted living centers, hospitals or church senior groups, helping an elderly neighbor, etc.

• ALL JUNIORS must volunteer at least thirty hours of service during their junior year or the summer preceding 11 th grade. Fifteen of the hours required during junior year must be served in accordance with the service theme of 11 th grade, “Combating Poverty.” Examples of service for this theme include volunteering at soup kitchens, homeless shelters, food banks, inner city neighborhood centers, schools, etc.

• ALL SENIORS participate in a capstone service experience in the last two weeks of May. Students will choose a not-for-profit agency where they would like to volunteer daily for a minimum of forty hours. Possible placements for the senior capstone service experience include hospitals, Habitat for Humanity, Catholic Family Center, city schools, city or county court, etc.

• ALL STUDENTS are encouraged to continue in the “MAGIS TRADITION” to go beyond the minimum requirement of one hundred hours in the spirit of doing “the greater good” for others. Seniors who have achieved above and beyond the requirement are acknowledged at the Spring Honors Assembly.

DOCUMENTATION OF HOURS

To receive credit for a volunteer activity, students must submit a timesheet to the service director. Timesheets are available in the campus ministry center, and they also can be printed off the McQuaid website at the following address: www.mcquaid.org/csp. A service activity can also be documented using an online submission form in the service section of the McQuaid website. All submitted activities are reviewed and confirmed by the Service Director.

Failure to complete the service requirement and all of its components has the same penalty as failure to complete any school requirement for graduation: a student will not receive a McQuaid Jesuit diploma until the requirement is met.

MIDDLE SCHOOL REQUIREMENT