x2VOL Blog: Tracking Service Hours at your School

Every year on September 11, individuals across the country step away from their normal day-to-day activities to volunteer in their communities on National Day of Service and Remembrance.

This day is an important one - it gives Americans the chance the remember those men and women that lost their lives in the September 11, 2001 attacks and honor those brave individuals that served in response to the attacks the day of and in the days, weeks, and years following. 

School is back in action! You might be more or less excited about getting back into the school grind, but there are some things you can do to set yourself up for success as you start this new semester:

• Shop for your favorite school supplies: Who doesn’t like to parade down the aisles of pens, notebooks, and binders! Treat yourself to your favorite school supplies to get you excited about taking class notes and getting your homework done.
• Memorize your class schedule: Don’t get stuck in between classes not knowing where you are going to next! Memorization is key.

School is back!

Classes are in session, students are memorizing their schedule and admins are getting organized for the year ahead of them. Which means, it’s the perfect time to set up your x2VOL account for success. There are a couple things you can do to ensure you are ready to start off the new school year on the right foot so your students can start logging hours:

Many secondary schools across the nation have been around for generations. Some are even over a century old. Their values and mission have been long established and so have many of their processes and procedures. 

When logging and recording service hours served by students, it's vital for admins to have confidence that the hours were completed as stated, not falsified and ultimately accurate. Not only does acceptance into clubs and groups depend on students completing a specific number of hours, but, many times, it's a graduation requirement, a class grade and can impact scholarships as well as college admissions. 

Summer is the perfect time of year to knock out community service hours and volunteer to make a difference in your community. There are so many different ways you can get involved and various organizations you can benefit with your time and service. Check out these summer service opportunities:

Students in schools around the country are serving their communities. The students at KIPP Atlanta Collegiate in Atlanta, Georgia, are no different. These students have a school requirement of 140 hours, but often go far beyond even the school requirement to log hundreds of hours of service to their community. 

The semester is coming to a close and will be over before you know it! Along with finals, graduation prep and standardized testing, it's also the time to wrap up organizing and reporting on your students' volunteer hours in x2VOL and start preparing for the fall. 

Get started now and get ahead of the game. Follow these x2VOL end of school year best practices and make your job and life that much easier. 

Every month we are highlighting a different school who's students are engaged and active in serving their communities. 

Going digital is an ongoing trend. Society has turned to the internet to do every day things such as paying bills online, shopping online, completing school work online or even tracking community service hours online.