Program Overview

Upper School Community Service Program Overview

Why does Flint Hill have a Community Service Program in the Upper School?

At Flint Hill, we believe providing service to our school and the larger community is one way we fulfill our school’s mission.  We are committed to ensuring that all students participate in meaningful service opportunities throughout their four years in Upper School.

To help facilitate these experiences, we first encourage students to consider how they can utilize their strengths, talents, and affinities to identify, address, and work to alleviate potential needs within our school and the larger community. 

What is ‘service’?

Service is not just volunteering or upaid work.  We ask students to consider service as a continuum, moving from awareness to advocacy to action.  While most students equate service with the action stage, it is essential not to overlook the value of first participating in the awareness and advocacy stages.  Focusing on these areas first brings forth more meaningful action steps, longer-term partnerships, and ongoing solutions that better alleviate a particular need.  The descriptions below highlight the what service can look like at each stage. 

Where should students start?

Service begins by identifying a specific need within a community.

Identifying need involves learning more about a community and the people in it.

Students may find it helpful to consider this list of needs below when determining which pre-identified areas of service appeal to them most and which will benefit the most from their unique interests and skillset:

• Elder Care

• Animal Welfare

• Culture

• Education

• Special Needs/Disabilities

• Literacy

• Poverty

• Disaster Relief

• Healthy Futures

• The Environment

• Immigrant Support

• Food and Housing Insecurity

Alleviating a need in the greater community can take many forms. Finding organizations that serve specific needs is an excellent place to start. Several resources are available on the Service Program Resources and Service Opportunities pages to help students get started.  Students may also find the structure of our school clubs helpful. Historically, many clubs in the Upper School focus on service work; many more create service activities. Ideally, students can create a balance of serving within the Flint Hill community and the larger community, reaching beyond themselves and their peers to help others with substantial needs.

Students are encouraged to take advantage of these student-initiated opportunities, opportunities provided by the school, as well as opportunities they create independently.   

When are service hours due? 

Service hours are due by June 15th each academic year (or the Friday before Spring Break for seniors).

We provide a timeline for completing service hours to ensure all students meet the goal of the program and, ultimately, fulfill our school’s mission. To this end, meeting the service requirement each year is a graduation requirement at Flint Hill, and students must satisfy a minimum number of hours each year to meet this requirement.

The service year begins on June 16th of the current academic year. It ends on June 15th of the following year (or the Friday before Spring Break for seniors).  This timeline allows students to utilize the summer months to fulfill their requirements for the upcoming year.

Though the school will provide opportunities for students to submit service hours throughout the year, students are individually responsible for recording their service hours.  In the Upper School, we use a platform called x2Vol to log service hours (available online and as an app), which students can access from the Student Portal page.  Students register the first year they join Flint Hill and their account remains active through graduation.  

Students are also encouraged to continue to accrue hours above and beyond the yearly requirement, particularly if they are interested in receiving outside recognition, such as the President's Volunteer Service Award (see below).  

How are service hours logged?

Hours are tracked yearly, though students are encouraged to fulfill a portion of their required hours in more manageable chunks (i.e., accrue a few hours each quarter).  

It is important that students submit their hours as close to the time that they complete them as possible, in order to keep an accurate accounting of progress toward meeting their requirement on time.

Students should monitor their progress within the x2Vol system, ensuring that hours are verified and approved as intended.  

• Any verification questions should be directed to the supervisor they listed in their submission (after double-checking they submitted the correct contact information).  

• Any questions regarding approval should be directed to an Upper School Community Service Coordinator.   

Approval Process

1. Student performs service and takes note of date, time, and hours served;

2. Student communicates with supervisor that they must log and have hours verified, and that the supervisor should expect an email/text from the x2vol system for verification;

3. Student creates a submission in the x2Vol system.  Submissions must include:

• Date and number of hours served

• Brief description of service performed

• Supervisor contact information

• Brief reflection

• Current year goal to apply hours toward

• ‘Oath’ box checked to attest that your submission is accurate

4. x2Vol sends the supervisor a verification email/text;

5. Supervisor verifies or adjusts the hours served to accurately reflect their records;

6. Hours are approved by Upper School Service Coordinators.

What happens if I do not submit hours by the deadline?

Given that completing service hours is a requirement for graduation, there are some potential repercussions for failing to submit the required hours each year.  Some of the potential impacts are listed below:

• Seniors who have not completed their service hours by the end of the third quarter will lose their sign-out privileges until the community service obligation is completed. In addition, a student’s ability to start his/her/their off-campus Senior Project (a requirement for graduation) may be affected.

• Hours recorded outside of the suggested timeline may not be eligible for inclusion; students should record them promptly!

• Students' registration for the next school year will not be considered complete until their community service hours are complete.  Students who are not in compliance by the third quarter deadline will be put on a probationary plan to complete the work.

• Students who have not completed their service hours are eligible for detention(s).