By Heather Lamb
Coming to a volunteer-based organization near you: a flood of 5,000 high school students who need to perform 40 hours of community service before they can graduate.
The students, starting with those now in Grade 10, fall under the new curriculum.
School board officials are still counting how many students have completed the 40-hour requirement, while volunteer organizations are giving the program mixed reviews.
Many students already do volunteer work, says Yvonne Sieres, co-ordinator of the program at Lisgar Collegiate .
“Kids were doing it naturally anyway. What is negative is that now you have to,” says Sieres, adding that she hopes students will perform community service for reasons beyond the requirement.
Ian McKercher, a curriculum support worker with the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board, says because so many students already volunteer, it’s hard to tell how many new students are doing it.
“My guess is that the crunch will come when these students enter Grade 12,” he says, adding that now “it’s not volunteer because they have to do it.”
McKercher says some organizations are worried about the number of students who would be looking for short-term community service placements. They’re concerned that training and supervising the students would be more trouble than it’s worth.
Nanette Labelle, volunteer co-ordinator at the Red Cross, disagrees. She says new volunteers are always welcome and many students volunteer for more than 40 hours.
Students can work in customer service, communications, and first aid and babysitting workshops at the Red Cross.
“They really want to gain the experience,” says Labelle.
Julia Carew, 15, worked at a day camp for two weeks last summer to complete her 40 hours. She says she had never volunteered before but enjoyed it and plans to do it again next summer.
“Having the volunteer work is going to help when you apply to university,” says Julia, a Grade 10 student at Lisgar.
Julia says requiring students to volunteer is a good idea because they learn about the community and themselves.
Under the program, students are responsible for finding their own placements and schools decide if they’re suitable.
McKercher says the school board lists suggest activities, such as working with children or seniors, but don’t give names and phone numbers of specific organizations.
Most non-profit organizations have a screening process for volunteers, which can include references, a criminal record check and an interview.
Volunteers are often expected to complete some training, which can take more than 40 hours, or commit to a minimum number of hours.
Labelle says the Red Cross training depends on what the volunteer wants to do. The minimum training is about 16 hours.
Students don’t need to work at an organization to qualify, says McKercher. Shovelling snow for neighbours is also acceptable for students who decide they don’t have the time to go through screening and training.
Students fill out forms describing the activity, which are signed by someone who can verify the 40 hours were completed.
Labelle says the Red Cross is getting calls from students who want to volunteer, but the organization is also starting a recruitment drive in the schools, so she doesn’t know how many students are calling just to complete the 40 hours.
Clara Freiri, the manager at Centre 507, a drop-in centre on Bank Street, says she hasn’t received any calls from students for over a year.
McKercher wasn’t able to provide numbers on student volunteers, but most organizations aren’t reporting an increase. And that means there are a lot of students who still have to complete their hours.