Community Service is defined as identifying a social issue in the community. This requires students to look beyond themselves and reach out to an issue faced by our society (i.e. poverty, abuse, elderly citizen rights). These hours will meet the requirement for the Florida Academic Scholars, Florida Medallion Scholars or Gold Seal Vocational scholarships. The completed hours will be recorded on the students transcript.

 

Volunteer Service is defined as assisting where needed and does not necessarily address a social issue. Although these hours are not recorded on the transcript, students can keep a log of these activities for use when applying for college, job applications, awards and scholarships other than the Bright Futures.

- To be eligible to receive one of the Florida Bright Futures Scholarship Awards a student must complete a program of community service work that includes a "minimum" of hours.

 

The student will identify a social problem or problems that interests him/her, develop a plan of personal involvement in addressing the problem and evaluate and reflect upon the experience

The service may be performed at more than one (1) agency and address more than one (1) social problem, however, each agency must be approved by the high school's community service designee prior to the beginning of the experience.

The student must be a high school student enrolled in grades 9-12 (summer before 9th grade is acceptable).

Steps to Follow

The following steps are the process for documenting the community service experience. A list of possible community service experiences are listed below this form. This list should not be considered all inclusive as there are many more ideas for service. (For specific requirements concerning grade point average, courses needed and minimum SAT or ACT scores, please see the Florida Bright Futures Website or contact your Guidance Counselor.)

 

1. Meet with the community service designee at the student's high school to review policies and procedures on the Student Community Service Information Sheet (PCS form 2-2602-1).

2. Contact the community agency for an interview to discuss the social issue and a plan of action to address the social issue.

3. Complete form #1 (PCS form 2-2602-2) after developing a detailed identification of the social problem and plan of action.

4. Submit community service form #1 (PCS form 2-2602-2) to the community service designee at the high school for approval.

5. Log community service hours on form #2 (PCS form 2-2602-3). The agency contact person must sign this documentation.

6. Summarize, evaluate, and reflect upon the community service work experience and the persons in the community that the student interacted with during this service work. Submit this information to the high school community service designee by completing the reverse side of the community service form #2 (PCS form 2-2602-3).

7. The completed forms shall be placed in the student’s official cumulative file at the high school.

Quick Note:  All Community Service hours and paperwork must be completed, signed, and submitted to the school prior to graduation.

 

What hours cannot be counted?

1. Court mandated community service.

2. An activity for which a student benefited financially or materially for the community service work.

3. All forms of duty within the family. The student's family to include: parents (including step), siblings (including step), any of their grandchildren (including step) and any of their spouses, aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces and nephews.

4. Any activity which can be interpreted primarily as proselytizing or religious devotion.

5. An activity where there is no leader or responsible adult on site to evaluate and confirm student performance (i.e., fostering an animal in your home).

6. Donations, such as Locks of Love or giving blood.

7. Except for credit earned through service learning courses adopted pursuant to section 1003.497, Florida Statute, student may not receive academic credit for service work performed.

8. An activity performed by a student prior to becoming a high school student or after the student's graduation date. A student is considered a high school student the summer prior to his/her 9th grade year.

9. Participation on a a sports team or a performance of any kind.

 

 

Potential Community Service Projects

Note: No service project location is pre-approved. All projects should be approved by the High School Community Service Designee prior to the start of the activity. Also, the following is a list of agencies that have provided opportunities in the past and is provided for your convenience, but the School District neither endorses, guarantees, nor makes any representation regarding the listed agencies; parents and adult students are strongly encouraged to investigate the agencies and make their own personal decisions regarding the sites.

To view detailed information about the agency, projects available, and contact information, click on the agency name.

Animal Welfare

• Clearwater Marine Aquarium
• Frankie's Friends
• Humane Society of Pinellas 
• Pinellas County Animal Services
• SPCA Tampa Bay
• United Way Hands On Suncoast

Domestic Violence/Anti-Bullying:

Education/Literacy/Developmental Learning/Lifelong Learning

Elder Care:

Environmental Protection/Recycling:

• City of Clearwater Parks & Recreation
• City of Madeira Beach
• City of Oldsmar
• First Unity Spiritual Campus
• Imagine Our Florida, Inc.
• Pinellas Chapter of the Florida Native Plant Society
• Randon Acts of Flowers
• Salvation Army
• Seminole Jr. Warhawks Atheletic Association (SJWAA)

Fundraising/Community Engagement: