Service Hour Requirements for 2025-26
Service Hour Requirements by Grade:
Freshmen: 15 hours - (it is suggested to limit 1/2 your service hours to NDCP Related events)
Sophomores: 15 hours (it is suggested to limit 1/2 your service hours to NDCP Related events)
Juniors: 15 hours (All Social Justice Hours in the community)
Seniors: 15 hours (it is suggested to limit 1/2 your service hours to NDCP Related events)
Any Burke Scholar student who is receiving a diploma is required to complete the full amount of service hours expected of our college prep students. If they are getting a certificate, no service hours are required (but encouraged!)
Overview:
June 1st: Students may begin working on their Christian service hours.
January 1st: Students are encouraged to have half of their Christian service hours completed and logged in Helper Helper.
Deadlines:
Ongoing: Students must submit their hours for approval within one month of their completion via the Helper Helper App.
Final Deadline: Senior service hours are due the last weekend in April - Freshmen, sophomore and junior service hours are due the first weekend in May.
In order to complete the paper for his Religious Studies course, a student must complete all 15 of his required service hours for that school year. Failure to complete the paper will negatively impact a student’s Religious Studies course grade.
Seniors who are not enrolled in a second semester Religious Studies course will submit their papers to their religion teacher by the date assigned above.
Examples of how Students May Earn Service Hours at ND:
Freshmen, Sophomore and Seniors are asked to dedicate at least 1/2 their volunteer hours to their local community and outside organizations such as those that work with people in need. The remaining hours can be dedicated to serving your Notre Dame family. Ways in which students may earn service hours at NDCP:
Being an Ambassador at Admissions open houses
Volunteering at Notre Dame athletic and community events.
ND Concessions
ND Camps
ND fundraisers (Burke Program/Gala)
Additional hours should be dedicated to outside service organizations. These can be found on your own or specific events advertised through the Helper Helper App, such as Food Pantries, Catholic Charities, Misericordia, , etc.
Service to the student’s parish, grammar school, or local community, which includes but is not limited to: altar serving and other liturgical ministries; volunteering to coach or tutor at his grammar school; volunteering time at community events such as charity or fundraising events, park or neighborhood cleanups, non-profit organizations, etc.
Is there anything that does not meet the service hour expectations?
The following activities, while important, do not fulfill the Christian Service expectations and therefore will not count toward a student’s 15 hours:
Assisting family members with chores or babysitting
Volunteering at a family member’s place of employment
Volunteering at any other for-profit business
Any activity where the student is compensated for his time
Junior Class service hour expectations: (More details HERE)
All 15 hours should fall under the “social justice” guidelines. The determination of what constitutes “social justice” service is open to a great number of interpretations. In place of a “social justice” stipulation, juniors are expected to complete all of their service hours off campus and in their required reflection paper will relate their service to one of the seven Catholic Social Teaching principles outlined by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), and listed below. Further elaboration of these principles is available on the USCCB’s website: http://www.usccb.org/beliefs-and-teachings/what-we-believe/catholic-social-teaching/seven-themes-of-ca tholic-social-teaching.cfm
The Seven Themes of Catholic Social Teaching:
Life and Dignity of the Human Person
Call to Family, Community, and Participation
Rights and Responsibilities
Option for the Poor and Vulnerable
The Dignity of Work and the Rights of Workers
Solidarity
Stewardship/Care for God’s Creation
Social Justice is defined as any unpaid work and tangible acts of service performed by a student with a legitimate 503c non-profit organization for the benefit and betterment of their community without any form of compensation. Students should be responding to the call to minister to those truly in need of love, hope, and compassion. Within Social Justice, students engage directly and face-to-face with individuals with special needs, the poor, the sick, or the elderly.
Volunteering is defined as performing acts of supportive service to our immediate community. Students learn the value and importance of serving in the places they live, study, and worship. Volunteering includes serving your parish, the NDCP community, your town, or a non-profit organization through events and activities that make a difference.
The rationale of service during the junior year is grounded especially in the charism of the Congregation of Holy Cross, and as such is integral to the mission of Notre Dame College Prep:
Students learn about, and experience service encounters with “...the poor and afflicted because only from there can we appeal as Jesus did for the conversion and the deliverance of all." (Holy Cross Constitutions 2, 13) In these direct encounters, students learn the value of solidarity and see the poor, not paternalistically as someone to be ‘helped’, but as fellow human beings - friends - with whom they can create a better world.
Memorandum of Understanding
Brothers of Holy Cross Midwest Province
and Notre Dame College Prep
In their Religious Studies classes, all juniors learn about the Principles of Catholic Social Teaching, which encapsulate the Catholic Church’s concern for social justice. While not every act of service or charitable organization encapsulates all seven Catholic Social Teaching principles, a student should be able to connect at least one or two of them with any service project done outside of Notre Dame College Prep.
