It’s almost that time of year when service hours are due, don’t be that person who waits until the last minute to get service hours. This is something you need for graduation, so don’t wait until the very last month of school to try and get them. There are many ways you can get service hours like joining clubs, helping teachers, and volunteering.

Clubs are the easiest way to gain service hours, and it even looks good on college applications. Many clubs there at Coral Glades give out service hours; you can even get an hour just by attending the meeting. The meetings are usually about an hour or even just half an hour long. This is a great way to gain knowledge about each club you attend and even find a club you really like all at the same time.

Maybe clubs aren’t your thing so you can get service hours by helping your favorite teacher out in the classroom. You can do this by helping clean up the classroom and after school, you can sweep the floors and wipe down all the desks and chairs. You can even help grade papers if your teacher trusts you enough to not go out and talk about their students’ work.

Volunteering is also the way to go, you get to help out people in your community who need help. That sounds like something I would definitely recommend if you don’t have that much time after school and have time on the weekends to get your service hours. This would also make you feel good as a person because you’re taking time out of your day to do something good for the people in your community.

“Volunteering is the best way to get service hours. You can get a lot at a time and you feel good doing it because you’re helping the people in your community,” says Sam Robert, junior.

Service hours are something you should get when you first start high school, waiting until your junior or senior year to try and get them isn’t the way to go. You will be stressing out on where you can get them and it’s almost impossible to get them all in one year. You only need 40 hours to graduate but the more you have the better. It may seem like it’s easy to get 40 but it’s not because you also want to enjoy your last year of high school without having to worry about service hours.

I talked to one of the seniors who is still trying to get all of her service hours and this is what she had to say. “It’s hard trying to find ways to get more service hours because most clubs only give you one or two at a time. And on top of that, I still get all of my schoolwork done. I wish I would have listened when they told me to start getting my service hours from 9th grade,” says Teja Rolle.