To fulfill this mission, Enlightium Academy (Enlightium) students in grades 9–12 are required to complete 10 hours of community service annually to fulfill Enlightium's graduation requirements. Community service experience benefits students when applying for college and for employment opportunities. Local volunteering opportunities can be found and volunteer hours tracked within our partner platform, Naviance x2VOL.
Community service can be completed for a non-profit and/or religious organization. It is a great way for students to give back to their community and to promote personal growth.
Here are some ways students can earn their community service hours:
Enlightium recommends that parents/guardians help their student in finding a safe environment to work on community service hours and leverage the search features in Naviance for volunteering opportunities. Parental involvement is encouraged while the student is engaging in his or her community service. It is a great way to model a giving heart to the community in need.
Students record community service through the Naviance platform utilized by Enlightium. Naviance is a college and career readiness platform that helps Enlightium align student strengths and interests to postsecondary goals, improving student outcomes, and connecting learning to life. The student is provided login credentials to Naviance during enrollment.
Students who participate in and record more than the required community service may earn certificates and scholarship opportunities (additional evidence may be required):
Students can receive a maximum of 8 hours of community service per day. This includes events that last longer than 8 hours a day, such as participation in a mission trip or volunteering in summer camps.
All verified community service hours that meet the criteria and were submitted through x2VOL will be applied toward the student’s graduation community service requirement. However, for verified hours to count toward a year-end community service certificate or next year’s tuition credit or scholarship, the hours must be submitted by the student and verified by the student’s contact person no later than the last day of the academic year.
Students will track their hours online by logging into x2VOL, a service offered within Naviance Student. This service makes tracking, logging, verifying, and applying hours to meet the service requirements quick and easy. x2VOL will allow students to reflect upon their community service experiences, upload documents and pictures, and print Service Transcripts all in one place. A verification request is automatically sent via email when the community service hours are submitted for approval.
Most admissions leaders (53%) said that community service was essentially a tie-breaker between equally qualified students when asked, “Assuming all factors are equal (such as GPA, SAT/ACT scores, and rigor of curriculum), then community service details are an important decision-making factor.”
The survey found that the top reason colleges valued community service was that it was an “indicator that the student is likely to be active in student social life outside the classroom.”
The second and third highest scoring reasons that community service mattered, according to those who make college admission decisions, were that service was an, “indicator that the student is likely to contribute to the school’s mission”. —Forbes.com