Some Montgomery County seniors are desperate to become do-gooders as they rush to complete the community service hours the county requires to graduate.
60 hours»Students graduating as of 2011: 75 hours
Approved activities:» Those done in middle- and high-school classes» Those included in school-sponsored clubs and organizations» Those supervised by preapproved community organizations
At Col. Zadok Magruder High School in Rockville, 79 seniors had yet to complete the requirements as of Monday, according to school announcements, and 27 students had only recently turned in their verifications. The school has about 500 seniors.
“This is certainly the time of year for desperate seniors looking for volunteer opportunities,” said Kimberly Bloch-Rincan, who works with the schools to find students opportunities while running two volunteer programs out of the schools’ Division of Family and Community Partnership.
Bloch-Rincan often refers students and school coordinators to the county’s Volunteer Center, where an online list of school-approved nonprofit organizations offers everything from weekend tutoring to collecting clothing for the needy.
“In the last couple of weeks we’ve had 10 or 15 students calling to ask for hours,” said Bea Strattner of Rockville’s Ten Thousand Villages. The store, which has had about a dozen regular volunteers throughout the year, sells goods certified as “fair trade” with craftspeople around the world.
At Interfaith Clothing Center in Rockville and Gaithersburg, volunteer coordinator Sabrina Wilson said 620 students have volunteered throughout the year. But as graduation approaches, she’s hearing from a different crowd.
“It’s peculiar,” Wilson said. “Those students on top of their game call me themselves before this time of the year, but now the calls we get are from frantic parents.”
Despite the uptick, the schools may be doing a better job than in years past with making sure students are completing their hours before the final days.
“I think this year there have actually been fewer last-minute calls than I’ve noticed before,” said Molly Callaway of the Montgomery County Volunteer Center. Even so, the center has probably received about 20 recent calls specific to seniors, she said.
Montgomery County schools did not respond to requests for the number of seniors still in need of hours, but spokesman Steve Simon said the issue would likely dissipate.
“A lot of the time, these kids just haven’t gotten around to turning in their paperwork,” he said.
