Students in grades 9-12 who choose to volunteer in the Silver Cord program earn a distinguished award based on the successful completion and documentation of 100 hours of volunteer service over their high school career. Students can apply only 25 hours of volunteer activity each year toward Silver Cord.  A maximum of 10 hours per volunteer site is accepted each year.  The goal of the hour limitation is to encourage student exposure to a wide variety of volunteer experiences.

Current high school students should initiate their involvement during the 2009-10 school year.  Current high school students who wait to become involved will need to volunteer the same number of hours as would be required of students for the 2009-10 school year.  As an example, if a current sophomore student became involved with Silver Cord during the 2009-10 school year, they would be required to document 75 hours of volunteer service when they ended their senior year (25 hours per year).  If the same student waited until their senior year to become involved, the student would still have to document 75 hours of volunteer service. REMEMBER THAT 25 HOURS PER YEAR IS ONLY 2+ HOURS PER MONTH!  You can also do volunteer activities over the summer.

Student progress will be monitored during Advisor/Advisee time.  Participation logs and approval forms will be kept in each students Seminar Portfolio. During the 2009-10 school year all volunteer activities will be approved by each students Seminar Advisor.

Students who complete the required number of volunteer service hours will be recognized at their graduation by wearing a silver cord with their cap and gown and with special mention in the Commencement program.

The volunteer completion form documents the completion of each pre approved volunteer activity.

The end of year volunteer log form documents all pre approved and successfully completed volunteer hours for each school year.  This form can also be used to document volunteer involvement for college scholarship applications, National Honor Society application and other such uses. updated 11/10/09