Silver Cords program expanding volunteer honors for students

A new volunteer opportunity for students at the high school is now available. The PCM School Board approved the Silver Cords program during its regular meeting, giving students a chance to be honored for the hours of service they put in while in school.

“The Silver Cord Program, which most of the schools around us have the program, is a volunteer hours program that can be set up according to school preferences for students from the time they are freshmen to about April of their senior year,” PCM High School Principal Scott Bridges said when explaining the program earlier in the year. “You can acquire a certain number of hours and if that is accomplished you would be honored by wearing a set of silver cords at graduation.”

According to the program guidelines, the Silver Cord Award is a distinguished volunteer service award available to high school students who earn a minimum of 100 hours of community service/volunteering starting with the beginning of their freshman year and continuing through their senior year of high school. At the senior awards night, recipients of the honor receive a silver cord to wear with their robes during graduation in recognition of their achievement.

Silver Cord hours must be providing a service or meeting a clear need for an agency, church, school, park, charity program or fundraiser, or community event. The service should also be “above and beyond” the student’s usual scope of involvement. The guidelines also note Silver Cord is a student-driven initiative and it is the student’s responsibility to arrange the volunteer activity, complete it and file the necessary paperwork within the allotted time allowed.

For a volunteer task to qualify for the program, pre-approval must first be given for the service activity. As a part of the pre-approval process, all volunteer work needs to be verified with the supervising agency. If it cannot be verified, it will not be approved.

The volunteer service must be supervised by an adult who is employed by the organization or who is an established volunteer recognized by the organization. Family members and/or other students cannot act as a supervisor or verify volunteer hours.

After the service is completed, students are required to fill out a reflection form where they describe the service performed along with a thoughtful reflection of how the student was helpful to other and what they gained from the experience. The completed form will be reviewed by the Community Service Coordinator within 30 days of completion.

No more than 20 hours will be credited to the student for any one experience. All forms should be submitted to the coordinator on the first day of each month for ongoing activities or within 30 days of completion for all other activities.

Since the program is starting mid-year, it will be phased in for students currently enrolled at the high school. For this year, 20 hours are required for the class of 2019, 45 hours for the class of 2020, 75 hours for the class of 2021 and 100 hours for the class of 2022 and beyond.

Summer hours are available but need pre-approval. The hours begin the day after school is dismissed and end the day before the first day of school. To receive pre-approval for summer house, forms must be submitted the week before final exams. Incoming freshman cannot earn hours in the summer preceding their freshman year.

Contact Jamee A. Pierson at 641-792-3121 ext. 6534 or jpierson@newtondailynews.com