Posted By Reporter On January 29, 2011 (10:00 am) In Features
Does KIPP San Jose Collegiate offer enough service hours or opportunities for students to earn them? For most contemporary high school students, community service hours are expected in order to be competitive when applying for college.
Many private universities, including schools of the UCs, CSUs, and others, Admissions officers look for more than grades, but also proof of leadership and community involvement through extracurriculars and community service. A Sonoma State representative said,” A student who has a 4.3 and amazing SAT scores that are good but not as impressive. We want students who will be active in school community”.
In past years at KSJC, service was mandatory every few Saturdays. Many of the juniors and sophomores have accumulated hours through this requirement. This year, doing community service is not mandatory, which may push some students into taking initiative or leave many students with no hours.
Junior Aaron Rios said,”I think that having community service mandatory helped me get hours but it was mandatory so it kind of defeats the purpose”. This year there have been more students doing community service on their own.
Key Club has members from all grades who plan events and fundraisers on their own. Key Club Vice President Martin Ly said,” We are more active this year than last year”. They have done multiple events ,including Walk for Aids and Christmas caroling, and gotten involved in the actual key club system.
There are also students who do community service by themselves on their own time. Some students are in youth groups or volunteer. Students can also go on their own to volunteer at soup kitchens and shelters, like junior Kristin Pham and freshman Olivia Ly. Students have also participated in city events like the fashion show for a charity event.
There are still a large number of students who have stopped community service without it being pushed in school. This can negatively affect their college admission as many colleges look for community service to balance out grades.
Article taken from The Wolfpack Chronicle - http://www.
URL to article: http://www.
URL to article: http://www.
Reflection:
I think that this article was pretty good since it answered a legitimate problem. This is an especially prevalent issue for sophomores and juniors who are getting closer to applying for colleges. I think that I should have directed my questions to get better quotes out of those I interviewed. The article had quotes from people out of school and showed how students were addressing the problem to tie it back to school. However, the article could be a lot more interesting and more hard- hitting if I got more facts and changed the wording. The story doesn’t have must of a drawing factor or much of a hook. It also reveals one of the problems at school so that students can become more active in the community.
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