<p>We just found out that 100 hours with the civic engagement program are required each year as a condition of my son's scholarship. I"m wondering if students find this to be a challenge, especially those in engineering/sciences?</p>
<p>Being a part of CEP (also for my scholarship) is actually really great. It got me engaged with the community outside the university in a way I otherwise wouldn’t have.
They really help you out with this. Your freshman year they help you get a partner organization to volunteer with for the year. I volunteered with a youth program at Massachusetts General Hospital. There are also reflection meetings for freshmen, an end of the year celebration, and a number of other events throughout the year to make CEP feel like more of a community. Every time I go to a CEP event, I’m always surprised to see someone I know who I didn’t know was on a full scholarship and in CEP!</p>
<p>Thanks for the info. Do you know of any students that had trouble completing their 100 hours?</p>
<p>My daughter just finished freshman year as Engineering major. I was worried about the 100 hours but it wasn’t a problem. They provide so many opportunities to get the hours. </p>
<p>At accepted students day or freshman orientation, they made it clear that CEP provided many benefits and opportunities. The director indicated that only one student the year before didn’t complete his CEP and he wasn’t passing his courses. </p>
<p>I would be a little concerned if they had work study, CEP and engineering.</p>
<p>Thank you! That eases my concern. I told my son that the community service would essentially be his extracurricular activity for freshman year. It sounds as if it is less structured after freshman year and they are allowed to complete some hours during the summer.</p>
<p>It doesn’t have to be your only/main extracurricular. In addition to my volunteering, I’m in pep band, wind ensemble, drum line, research in a lab, and math club. 100 hours seems like a lot, but it’s not all that much time each week, when spread out over 8 months. Plus, doing something like Relay for Life can fulfill 12 hours in one day if you’re committed to it!</p>
<p>How would this work when someone goes on co-op? I know I could do 100 freshmen year, but after that is it 50/semester in order to account for time you’re not on-campus and actively using your scholarship or does it not matter if you’re on co-op?</p>
<p>You still have to do the 100 hours/year…doesn’t matter if you are on co-op or not. I imagine NEU could hook you up with an assignment that you could participate in while working full-time, but my son crammed all 100 hours into his non-co-op semesters. I’m not sure how much, but it sounds like there is some leeway with the total hours required.</p>
<p>For students on co-op or studying abroad who are unable to participate in traditional types of volunteering, there are projects that can be completed for volunteer hours.</p>
<p>My daughter was saying today that one of her friends was not able to get in the 100 hours this year (freshman). Not really his fault, his partner program cancelled many of the hours due to weather, etc. He was told he can make them up during the summer (at home - although he must get approval from his CEP advisor)</p>
<p>I talked to the CEP administration and they said they will grant an extension as long as the students are proactive and talk to them about a month ahead of time to let them know why they cannot complete the hours. If they come to them at the last minute, they will not grant the extension.</p>
<p>Students can also get credit for any volunteering they do while at home during breaks. Freshman year my son earned ten hours volunteering as a referee at a robotics tournament, and this year he volunteered for a weekend at our local library’s book sale. After freshman year, any volunteering done over the summer counts towards the following year.</p>
<p>Thanks for the info! It will help a lot to be able to complete some hours during the summer.</p>
<p>Plus, if you do an alternative spring break, that’s 40 hours right there. (That’s where you go spend your spring break doing volunteer work somewhere in the country or elsewhere in the world, even.)</p>