Students participate in a variety of Student Service Learning (SSL) activities, from volunteering at local organizations to creating their own charities. MCPS requires that all students complete a minimum of 75 SSL hours prior to graduating high school.
Aside from the typical work at non-profit organizations, there are several other opportunities including fully virtual ones. To find these virtual opportunities, students can visit the Montgomery County Volunteer Center website and use filters to search. The SSL coordinating team at WJ also sends out announcements via email regularly to inform students about upcoming SSL activities.
“I update a Google Doc daily with links to county databases, opportunities at WJ and any other opportunities sent to me,” WJ SSL coordinator, counselor Ashley Weddle said.
The mission behind the SSL requirement is to mold students into citizens who care about their community and work hard to participate in its welfare. WJ faculty works hard to help students reach this goal; however, it remains a challenge for some.
“I would say that students who struggle with attendance typically struggle with earning hours. They miss out on opportunities and communication about opportunities,” Weddle said.
Without the SSL hour requirement completed, students will not be allowed to graduate and will not receive their high school diploma.
“I can tell you that currently, 22% of seniors do not have their requirements met,” Weddle said.
The struggle to find SSL hours could stem from a few different problems. For example, transportation can be hard to find for students, causing them to miss out on opportunities. However, students can find SSL opportunities that are metro and bus accessible.
“I find it very difficult to get transportation to my SSL opportunities and me not being able to drive right now is also very difficult for getting SSL hours,” junior Minhyun Kim said.
Having other commitments can also limit time availability. Students may have to take care of other siblings or have jobs which can quickly fill up their schedules.
“Practices for sports and school work took up a lot of my time and left me with not a lot of time to do SSL work,” freshman Gus Conze said.
MCPS has several in-school SSL opportunities for students with limited time. Certain classes, like Health and AP Government, include in-class SSL hours that help students reach the 75-hour benchmark. However, there are students who believe that the 75-hour requirement is an unreasonable goal, due to the difficulty they have with finding opportunities.
“I wish SSL hours were easier to get and I think they should lower it to 20 hours,” freshman Wyatt Whisenhunt said.
