OVERVIEW & EXPECTATIONS

OVERVIEW:

As a Catholic school, we deeply value service as a way to live out our faith and follow in the footsteps of Jesus.  Matthew 25:34-40 is just one place of many in the gospels where Jesus says “whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.”  We are all called to see Jesus in everyone that we encounter, especially those that are often left on the sidelines of society.  Service also helps our students grow in self-confidence and learn new skills. Thus, service is part of the Serra mission ("We are men of Faith, Wisdom, Service, Leadership & Community") and is a graduation requirement. Students earn a grade for their service each year.  See below for more details.

EXPECTATIONS:

At Serra, we have requirements specific to each grade level for service.  We also make a distinction between direct service with a marginalized population and indirect service.  Both types of service are valuable to the community; however, direct service accomplishes a few different goals.  Direct service challenges our students to step outside of their comfort zone, to see the human dignity of everyone, especially those from different circumstances than themselves, and it gives our students a new perspective on their own experiences.  We use an acronym, F.I.A.T., to help with remembering what we mean by direct service to a marginalized population: 

• The Financially impoverished

• The Ill

• The Aged

• Those with disabilities

An easy way to understand whether or not a service opportunity is considered FIAT is to ask yourself if, during your volunteering experience, you spoke with/walked with/ate with/played with people who are considered marginalized in our society. The agency/event where you volunteer should specifically cater to one of the above four populations. If you did interact with, and if the organization does cater to one or more of these populations, then the hours are considered FIAT. 

On the other hand, if you volunteered your time to ultimately help one of the four marginalized populations above but did not have direct interaction (for example, you packaged food at a food bank which ultimately goes to the financially impoverished, even though you did not interact with them), then the service counts as non-FIAT hours. Since there was no direct interaction with the financially impoverished, this would not count toward your FIAT goal.

Why do we ask you to do FIAT hours? This is what Jesus Christ did. He was out on the streets, walking with the poor and elderly, talking with the lepers, and breaking bread with the financially impoverished and the disabled. We ask that you be like Christ and work directly with the marginalized. It is also good to get out of your comfort zone every once in a while!

Serra Community Hours include (but are not limited to) volunteering at the Open House, Padre For A Day, Admission Events, Big Brother, Encounter, altar serving at Serra masses, team manager, Serra Summer Camp, and Serra Sports Camps.

2025-2026 Service Hour Requirements:

ALL STUDENTS MUST COMPLETE AT LEAST 20 CHRISTIAN SERVICE HOURS!

• Freshmen: Commit to a minimum of 10 FIAT hours, the Freshmen Day of Service (3 hours), the Freshman BINGO Card (2 hours), and 10 more of FIAT, non-FIAT, or Serra Community hours

10 FIAT + Day of Service (3) + BINGO (2) + 10 FIAT/Non-FIAT/Serra Community = 20 hours

• Sophomores: Commit to a minimum of 10 FIAT and an additional 10 of either FIAT, non-FIAT, or Serra Community hours.                 

10 FIAT + 10 FIAT/Non-FIAT/Serra Community = 20 hours

• Juniors: Commit to the Junior Urban Plunge (5 FIAT hours), a minimum of 5 FIAT hours, and an additional 10 of more FIAT, non-FIAT hours, or Serra Community hours.

5 FIAT + JUP (5) + 10 FIAT/Non-FIAT/Serra Community = 20 hours

• Seniors: Commit to a minimum of 10 FIAT and an additional 10 of more FIAT, non-FIAT hours, or Serra Community hours

10 FIAT + 10 FIAT/Non-FIAT/Serra Community = 20 hours

DUE DATES:

It is very important that you follow the due dates mentioned below. 

SENIORS: End of the 4th grading period, February 13, 2026

FROSH/SOPHS/JUNIORS: End of the 5th grading period, March 31, 2026

There are reasons why we ask you to finish your service hours and get all approvals before these dates. The reasons are:

• • Administrators must know well in advance which seniors will 1) graduate and 2) walk with their class at graduation. There is a lot of preparation for graduation (diplomas, grad program, grad caps/gowns, etc.). This is why we ask seniors to complete their hours earlier than the rest of the school.

  • We need to plan for our awards ceremonies in May. We need to know precisely how many hours students have completed to know which award to give. Preparation time is also required for the certificates, the programs, etc.

  • For seniors, we want you to enjoy your last few months of senior year without worrying about this requirement! It also makes us feel better knowing your requirement is completed.

WHAT CONSTITUTES CHRISTIAN SERVICE HOURS BEING "DONE"?

Christian Service hours are only considered "done" when all four of the following steps have been completed: 

• • All of your required hours have been completed, keeping in mind the correct categorization as FIAT or non-FIAT.

  • Hours have been entered into x2VOL.

  • Hours have been verified by the supervisor.

  • Hours have been approved by the Christian Service Coordinator.

Once all four steps have been completed, then your hours are considered "done." Please consider entering them into x2VOL a few weeks before the due date so that the supervisor has enough time to verify them, and the Christian Service Coordinator has enough time to approve them. 

We also ask that you please enter your hours into x2VOL within ONE WEEK of completing them. Don't wait weeks or months after you've done the service to enter them. Supervisors change jobs. People forget who worked for them and when. It's always best to enter the hours right away.

For the policy on what happens if service hours are not completed by the due date, please refer to the Student/Parent Handbook under Campus Ministry, then Christian Service. 

WHAT MIGHT HOLD UP MY HOURS FROM BEING APPROVED?

• • Lack of Verification. You may have completed your service hours, you entered them into x2VOL, but the supervisor has not verified them yet. Suggestion: reach out to the supervisor at the agency and remind him/her to search for an email in his/her inbox from "Volunteer Verification." The supervisor would have received an email on the same day you submitted your entry in x2VOL. Tell him/her to click on the link within that specific email and verify the hours.

  • Incorrect Supervisor Email Address. You may have accidentally entered the incorrect email address for the supervisor. Always double check that your spelling is correct! Unfortunately, the system does not send bounce-back emails to let you know that you misspelled the email address. If you misspelled, you'll need to delete that entry and start a new one; editing the original entry does not work. Unfortunately the system will only send one email per entry.

  • Suspicious Supervisor Email Address. You used a gmail/yahoo/comcast or similar email address for the supervisor contact. This raises a red flag for the Christian Service Coordinator, especially for FIAT hours. Please use an email address of a supervisor with the domain name of the agency where you worked. There are exceptions, of course, but we ask that you try your best to get a legitimate volunteer supervisor/coordinator's email address to use in your entry (I.e. tsmith@gmail.com=BAD; tsmith@stanthonyfoundation.org=GOOD).  If you can only get the personal email of another volunteer at the location, you must also have their full name and phone number so that we can verify that they are associated with the organization.  

  • Missing proof of service. A few organizations do not do online verification. At these organizations you must get the sheet of paper that they give for keeping record of hours signed by the shift lead or lead volunteer. Take a picture of this sheet and attach it in your x2vol entry. You will then use the email of the service coordinator at Serra for verification and approval.  

  • A Family Member Verified Your Hours. Your mom/dad/aunt/uncle/brother are not allowed to verify your hours. Any family member may not verify hours. If your parent/etc. was in charge of an event, please find another adult who was at the event and can vouch for the fact that you were serving at the event as well. This rule is also written in the student/parent handbook.

  • Incomplete Information (especially dates worked). You did not include a thorough description of service or reflection. OR, the dates that you volunteered were not included in the description of service, so it looks like you worked 25 hours on just one day (which probably did not happen!). So, for example,  if you worked every Monday for 3 hours over a two month period and claimed 24 hours in one x2VOL entry without including all dates/times in the description at the top of your entry, then the Christian Service Coordinator will kick this back to you and ask you to be more thorough and include all of the dates/times, which holds up the approval process. Always be sure to include the exact dates and hours of service in your entry under the description of service or in the "comments" section of your entry.

  • Service Was Not Done Through an Organization. Maybe you did not work at an agency, but rather you worked for your elderly neighbor, mowing her lawn or moving furniture, and now you would like to count this toward your FIAT hours. Unfortunately, this type of service does not count as FIAT/service hours. Rather, we consider it being a good neighbor, a good grandson, etc. We ask that you please work through an agency/organization that specifically caters to a marginalized population. See the menu item at the top called "Non-Profits" to choose an organization.