Last year Naugatuck Board of Education made it official that a new graduation requirement would be required of all students by the time they are seniors.

This requirement tasked students with completing at least twenty-five hours of community service and additional extra credit would be given to students who  completed 100 hours of community service. The requirement has been implemented in school districts since the mid 90’s and teenagers have been active in their communities since.

Community service is work done by a person or group of people that benefits others. It is often done near the area where the person lives, so their own community reaps the benefits of the work.

Connecticut’s state law states that community service is labeled under a “career and life skills” electives, such as career and technical education, English as a second language, personal finance, public speaking and nutrition and physical activity.

With the relatively new requirement subtle problems have shown up for students. A survey was taken by about thirty-three students who were asked questions about their experience with completing the hours.  

Forty-two percent of students said they had to travel outside of the school or the town of Naugatuck in order to complete their hours. Among those who had to travel half of those students did not have access to a stable mode of transportation.

Another question  asked was whether or not they participated in an event that raised awareness and/or funds for a specific issue or topic. Sixty-three percent answered yes.

When asked if the students received community service credit for the event they helped and participated in a total of 58% answered no.

With those statistics listed above a question was asked by one student in Naugatuck High School. “How can we improve the way students complete their hours?”

The problem appears to be that not many students or teachers know every single activity that counts as community service. There was also some worry about how the student body might miss the impact and lessons learned by doing community service if they have to travel outside their own community in order to complete their hours.

A possible solution could be to try and start a new after school group with the goal of teaching how community service impacts the lives of other and what actually counts as community service by the school while also taking part in community service activities around the schools and town of Naugatuck.

That idea is currently a work in progress and is being completed through the means of a Civics Action project, another graduation requirement for Naugatuck High School students.