Shorecrest Preparatory School

Service Policies

Service Calendar
Students are encouraged to engage in year-round service. Upper School students can earn hours towards their annual requirement beginning on June 1 each year. The summer serves as a time to catch up or get ahead of the service-hours requirement. Students are encouraged to complete all of their hours by the first day of school, usually around mid-August.

Service Hours Requirement

Upper School students are required to earn and report 25 hours annually as a graduation requirement. Out of the 25 hours per year, up to 10 may be earned within Shorecrest with approval from the US Office. The limit of 10 hours also applies to Shorecrest Summer Programs - where students often serve as camp counselors, the theatre program, and student ambassadors/tour-guides for Admissions. Other programs may be approved on a case-by-case basis. The 100 community service hours required for graduation also count towards the requirement for the Florida Bright Futures scholarship program. Any questions about student hours and the requirement will be addressed by the US Office. Any arrangements for missing or make-up hours are made by the students with the US Office.

Reporting Service Hours Earned

Students should report their service hours on shorecrest.org at the bottom of the For Students Page using their school login, and should provide complete information on the organization served, dates and hours worked, description of work done, as well as contact information for the supervisor at the beneficiary organization.

US Office staff reviews and approves reported hours. Shorecrest faculty or staff may certify hours with approval from the US Office. Service hours cannot be approved/certified by parents or immediate family members. Household chores are not to be counted for service hours towards the requirement. Service done must benefit someone beyond immediate family and be certified by someone outside of the family.

Opportunities to Serve
Information about opportunities to serve is shared with students through announcements, flyer postings, service club meetings and Ebytes. Service Clubs recruit new members at the Club & Service Sign-Up Day at the beginning of each school year. Service clubs meet twice a month and service activities are planned for weekends.

Service Fees

As part of the student activity and extracurricular experience at Shorecrest, on occasion, the school may charge a specific club fee for participating in a club or school activity in order to meet expenses associated with the work and mission of a club, organization or activity. Many times, these fees are mandated and set by the parent/charter national organization.

There are also fees associated with participating in the required Service Week. Every effort will be made to communicate verbally and in writing to the students and families before fees are charged to the student account, including the month of charge and fee amount.

Service Week

Service Week is held during the week before Spring Break. Annual participation is mandatory and satisfactory completion each year is a graduation requirement. Students can expect to fulfill “most” (at least 15 hours) of their service requirement through participation in Service Week, but not all programs will fulfill the full 25-hour requirement. We expect students to find meaningful service opportunities during the school year. Failure to participate or satisfactorily complete the program will result in an additional 40 pre-approved community service hours to be completed by the student during the academic year.

Service Week programs are planned and shared with students in the fall. Students sign up for programs online in October. The required paperwork should be completed and families will be billed for applicable fees in November/December. International programs may have earlier deadlines for deposits, travel documents and other paperwork.

Service Week Ideas/Proposals
Ideas for Service Week are welcome from the community, especially students. It is important to maintain the integrity of the program and work to ensure the safety of the Shorecrest community during Service Week. As such, the following policies will be set in place for suggesting a program for Service Week:

Proposals are due in early fall, usually in mid-late September.
All proposals must include a sponsoring organization focusing on service and learning with high school students. Proposals that do not include a sponsoring organization will be denied. Organizations must show evidence they have successfully led and supervised other service learning opportunities with high school communities and be able to provide references. Higher priority will be given to organizations that can also assist with travel coordination and housing/food.
All proposals must have two faculty members willing to co-lead the trip. Parents/Guardians may attend the trip as chaperones but may not serve as the co-leaders of the trip.
Guidelines for safety will be implemented, which means adequate travel insurance, advice from travel advisories and warnings from the State Department and global health trends.
All proposals shall include a budget and cost per student, including the faculty stipend of $150 per day total for both chaperones and approximate lodging, food and travel expenses.
Proposals shall be reviewed and approved by the Head of Upper School, in consultation with faculty members listed as co-leaders in the proposal.

Service Week Billing
Families can expect to be billed for Service Week in early fall for international trips and November/December for local/national trips. All trips and local experiences will have specific deadlines and deposit/payment procedures. It is up to families and students to be aware of these deadlines. Some programs may require forfeiture of deposits or payments upon cancellation or changes.

Fundraising for a Cause
Any student wanting to fundraise for charity or philanthropy should first have the idea cleared by the US Office and the Head of Upper School. If necessary, the Head of School or Director of Advancement may also be consulted.

Fundraising within the Upper School is limited to students working through student clubs or organizations and should not interfere with schoolwide fundraising efforts while also being mindful of multiple requests of families and community members. No student may solicit donations from the Shorecrest community for individual causes. This applies to both in person and digital campaigns.

Once approved, they may proceed either with an existing organization or create a new organization based on club guidelines and procedures. Either way, all student organizations are limited to two fundraisers per year and/or one per semester. When fundraising, due diligence should be performed to make sure funds are handled in a responsible manner with transparency, and all fundraising efforts must be supervised by the faculty member in charge of the student club/organization.

Shorecrest Statement on Zika

Service Policies

Shorecrest Preparatory School

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