x2VOL Blog: Tracking Service Hours at your School

Before joining the National Honors Society in high school, the idea of volunteering and serving others rarely crossed my mind. As a young student-athlete, I believed I never had enough time in my schedule to engage in volunteer work. However, upon becoming a member of NHS, I was required to complete a certain number of volunteer hours. This compelled me to start volunteering within my school, and it didn't take long for me to contemplate participating in larger-scale projects.

There’s no doubt that the past two years have taken a toll on students.

There has been a significant loss of learning, development, and personal growth. Students have experienced isolation from a myriad of social situations. Many students even began high school during the pandemic and didn't return to campus well into their high school careers.

There are a lot of service opportunities to take advantage of in your community and beyond. But for today's technology and online driven students, taking service online can be a great option.

x2VOL has received the CODiE Award for Best Social Emotional Learning Platform two years in a row. But what is Social Emotional Learning (SEL)?
Social Emotional Learning is the process by which individuals learn to understand and manage emotions in order to learn empathy, how to achieve goals, and how to relate to others among many other things.  

Participating in community service is more than just a chore or something to check off the list. It can be an extremely transformative experience for students, opening their eyes to a whole new world outside of their day-to-day bubble. 

Spring break is the perfect time of year to spend time serving in your community. Whether it's through a week-long service project or time spent volunteering at a local nonprofit, this is a great time to volunteer. 

Are you looking for a community service opportunity that is a little bit more out of the box? Check out this list of community service ideas you can participate in to benefit others this fall and winter during the holidays.

There are so many needs in the community and so many different ways that you can benefit other people as we go into the holiday season.

When students participate in community service it expands their world-view and opens them up to ideas and opportunities they might not have experienced otherwise. They learn about the importance of helping others and have a chance to discover an area of focus for a potential future career.

It's so easy to get caught up in admin work and managing day-to-day activities that sometimes. spending time engaging with students can fall to the wayside. 

Talking with your students, seeing how they are doing, encouraging them in school and in service, are huge elements of a student's education. It can be easy to give students a community service requirement, but that process should be more than just checking a box. Students need to be engaged in community service - and that's where you come in. 

She might be a world famous pop star and actress. She has a partnership with Coach and the most followers on Instagram, clocking in at 142 million. 

But, more important that those titles, Selena Gomez is a dedicated servant to her community and advocate for victims of human trafficking through an organization called A21, whose mission is to eradicate human trafficking through awareness, intervention, and aftercare.  Selena has been serving as a volunteer every week at A21 since March of 2018.