Community Service

Community Service

Community Service is defined as unpaid work performed by a person or group of people to address a social issue in the community. It is often completed near the area where you live, so your own community benefits from your work. This requires students to look beyond themselves and address an issue faced by our society (i.e. poverty, abuse, elderly citizen rights, and people with disabilities' rights). Community Service is important for the following reasons:

  • Helps you become more involved with your community and enhances your growth as an individual.  
  • Although not a high school graduation requirement, colleges, and universities favor applicants who have demonstrated connectedness within their community.   
  • Some scholarships, such as the Bright Futures Scholarship, require community service hours as part of their qualification (see below).

OCPS and Olympia accept community service hours from summer prior to entering Grade 9 (starts the last day after Grade 8) through the last day of Grade 12 in high school.

Click Here to Download the New Community Service Form


Bright Futures

Bright Futures Scholarship Information
https://www.floridastudentfinancialaidsg.org/

Students have the opportunity to earn a Bright Futures Scholarship for college in one of the following three categories below. Students apply during their senior year of high school. More information regarding the Bright Futures Scholarships can be found on our College and Career Tab; however, the required amount of community service hours for each scholarship is listed below.
Florida Academic Scholars (FAS) – Requires 100 hours of community service
Florida Medallion Scholars (FMS) – Requires 75 hours of community service
Gold Seal Vocational Scholars (GSV) – Requires 30 hours of community service

How do I start?

There are three important steps you must complete for community service. 

  • Determine an area/topic in the community where you would like to make an impact.
  • Research the types of volunteer activities available in your community. 
  • Contact the organization with whom you are interested in volunteering and determine
    • 1) the steps to become a volunteer,
    • 2) if they have volunteer openings for the dates/activities you are interested in,
    • 3) who the contact will be to verify your hours and participation in the activity. Note: Supervisors must be non-family member with organization who directly supervises the student during the activity outside of the home.
    • If you have a question regarding whether the service activity is acceptable, reach out to your school counselor or school community service hours designee.

Once your project is complete, you must submit the Community Service Log and Reflection in order for your hours to be recorded. You MUST have prior authorization to begin a project before you can accumulate hours. 

Community Service Plan Ideas:

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). 

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). The student's parent cannot be the supervisor.
6. Donations, such as Locks of Love, giving blood, donating money, collecting items, etc.
7. Except for credit earned through service-learning courses adopted pursuant to section 1003.497, Florida Statute, students 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 sports team or a performance of any kind.

Olympia High School Service Hour Opportunities 

The below organizations are available within our community to complete your service hours. This list is provided for your convenience. The school district neither endorses, guarantees, nor makes any representation regarding the listed agencies; parents, guardians, and students are strongly encouraged to investigate the agencies to make their own personal decisions regarding the site. If your proposed organization is not listed below, you may still submit your proposal to your counselor for review. 

A Gift for Teaching https://www.agiftforteaching.org/get-involved/volunteer/ 

American Cancer Society https://volunteercommunity.cancer.org/s/?language=en_US

American Red Cross https://www.redcross.org/volunteer/volunteer-opportunities.html 

Army of Angels https://armyofangels.org/volunteer/

The Autism Project https://theautismproject.org/get-involved/other-ways-to-support/volunteer 

BASE Camp Children’s Cancer Foundation https://www.basecamp.org/become-a-volunteer/ 

C.A.T.S.-C.A.N. https://www.cats-can.org/forms/form?formid=3651

The Center of Orlando for LGBTQIA+ https://thecenterorlando.org/volunteering/

Central Florida Zoo https://www.centralfloridazoo.org/get-involved/volunteer/teenteam/ 

City of Orlando http://www.cityoforlando.net/oca/volunteer/ 

Coalition for the Homeless https://volunteer.samaritan.com/custom/518/

Down Syndrome Association https://www.dsacf.org/volunteer-with-us 

The Florida Immigrant Coalition https://secure.everyaction.com/cYG5RUfCKk2vcUNFcSz1dA2

Florida State Parks https://volunteers.floridastateparks.org/ 

Foundation for Foster Children https://foundationforfosterchildren.org/get-involved/volunteer/ 

Freedom Ride https://www.freedomride.com/volunteering/

Give Kids the World https://www.gktw.org/volunteer/index.php 

Habitat for Humanity https://habitatorlandoosceola.org/volunteer/

Heart of Florida United Way https://www.hfuw.org/volunteer/ 

Havserve https://havserve.org/

Junior Achievement https://centralflorida.ja.org/ 

Keep Orlando Beautiful https://www.orlando.gov/Our-Government/Departments-Offices/Public-Works/Streets-and-Stormwa ter-Division/Keep-Orlando-Beautiful/Become-a-Volunteer-for-Keep-Orlando-Beautiful

Kids Beating Cancer https://kidsbeatingcancer.com/volunteers/

Kiwanis https://www.kiwanisgo.com/(X(1)S(hvefanqy4fbtw2i1pkubnfv4))/Page/29070

Learn to Be https://www.learntobe.org/apply#tutor_application

Matthew’s Hope https://www.matthewshopeministries.org/volunteer

Mead Botanical Gardens https://www.meadgarden.org/support/volunteer/

Mustard Seed https://mustardseedfla.org/volunteer/

Neighbors Network https://neighborsnetworkfl.org/volunteer

New Hope for Kids http://newhopeforkids.org/ways/volunteer/

OCPS Additions Volunteer https://www.ocps.net/departments/community_resources_/a_d_ditions_school_volunteers 

One Heart for Women and Children https://www.oneheartforwomenandchildren.org/giving/time/

Orange County Animal Services http://www.orangecountyanimalservicesfl.net/GetInvolved/Volunteer.aspx

Orange County Regional History Center http://www.thehistorycenter.org/support/volunteer/

Orlando Museum of Art https://omart.org/get_involved/volunteer/

Orlando Public Library https://www.ocls.info/support-library/volunteer

Orlando Union Rescue Mission https://www.ourm.org/volunteer-opportunity/meal-services/

Orlando Science Center https://www.osc.org/support/volunteer/ 

Pet Alliance of Greater Orlando https://petallianceorlando.org/community-involvement/volunteer/

Points of Light https://www.pointsoflight.org/volunteer-search

Polka Dogz https://polkadogz.org/volunteer/

Read to Succeed https://www.foundationforocps.org/p/200/volunteer-now#.YKe70qhKiM8

Rebuilding Together https://www.rebuildingtogethercfl.org/volunteer

Teen Court https://ninthcircuit.org/sites/default/files/Volunteer.pdf

Ronald McDonald House https://www.rmhccf.org/get-involved/volunteer

Salvation Army https://salvationarmyflorida.org/orlando#volunteer

Save the Manatees https://www.savethemanatee.org/how-to-help/volunteer/

Second Harvest Food Bank https://www.feedhopenow.org/site/SPageServer/?pagename=ways_involved_volunteer

SALT Service and Love Together https://www.serviceandlovetogether.org/volunteer

Seniors FIrst https://seniorsfirstinc.org/get-involved/

Special Olympics https://www.specialolympicsflorida.org/get-involved/volunteer

UCP of Central Florida https://www.thetrevorproject.org/get-involved/volunteer/

United against Poverty Orlando https://uporlando.org/volunteer/

Zebra Coalition https://zebrayouth.org/volunteer/