<p>Freshmen year when I wasn't any board positions in any clubs i went crazy, got like 200 hahaha. THen sophomore year, not as much. Got a high ass position in Key Club and so i had to attend everything hahah, so that was another 150 there.</p>
<p>That's pure volunteer service though.</p>
<p>When you guys count hours, do you count the background work you put into CREATING an event, like coordinating a charity bowling match or a massive pillow fight fundraiser. I personally don't count background work/planning/setting up as hours, but community service is very subjective, ya know? What about you guys?</p>
<p>About 200 if volunteer science research doesnt count - otherwise over 500 by the end of the summer. </p>
<p>This pertains to HS only of course. I have 300 pre-HS community service hours, but they don't count for anything since I discontinued the program that gave me those hours.</p>
<p>I remember in 5th grade I volunteered at the library and “helped” with arts & crafts (by helped, I mean I circled tables for a few hours doing my best to not have to talk to or make eye contact with anyone) in order to go to Boston at the end of the year. I don’t remember how many hours though… I think it was 5 or 10/month. Something like that.</p>
<p>Aside from that, I’ve never been a part of something that required service hours, and didn’t even start thinking about doing community service until last year.</p>
<p>So, hopefully I’ll be able to do something at an animal shelter, a museum, one of the elementary schools in my town, etc. soon. I’m probably not going to keep track of my hours though… I just want a better way to spend my time in this boring town :p</p>
<p>^ You are looking at the entire situation incorrectly</p>
<p>Community service is not a requirement for any college. Dartmouth doesn’t care if you’ve spent 500 hours stacking books at the local library - that would be a complete waste of your time. If you have 0 interest in the medical field, then volunteering at the local hospital would be a waste of your time too. If there are opportunities to get involved in something that either interests you, or something that you could make an impact in, do it. Furthermore, you can make a significant impact/have a great experience with under 150 hours of service. Think quality, not quantity. </p>
<p>As for me, I volunteer 2-4 hrs/week (not strictly every week) teaching underprivileged kids tennis. This is relevant to me because I am very involved in tennis (HS captain, all-state, tennis instructor over the summer, etc.) so it’s worth my time. I don’t have anywhere near 100 hours built up, but that’s fine because I’m enjoying it and I’m helping kids out.</p>
<p>I don’t want to spend hundreds of hours in a hospital dreading my time there, I want to choose something I like to do and spend time doing that, but the sort of things I’d be interested in doing aren’t necessarily offered as ‘community service’</p>
<p>I’d be interested in an unpaid internship at an investment firm. I think it would be a good experience because that’s something I’d like to do after college, and I’d like to experiment with it now. </p>
<p>I was just saying that I don’t enjoy some things that people generally consider community service. I have no interest in working with a church, animal shelter, or that kind of thing.</p>
<p>Alright, well it’s good that you want to make your time worthwhile. However, getting an internship at an investment firm is neither volunteering nor practical. From first hand experience I can say that it’s near impossible to get an internship in finance without connections. For two weeks my guidance counselor and I made phone calls and sent emails to tons of firms in the NY/CT area (where I live), which is possibly the most abundant area of finance related businesses. I got nothing. Every company required that the intern is a college student. You can still try to call around and find an internship, but it probably won’t happen.</p>
<p>I live in South Carolina, about 10 miles outside of a small city, with a financial urban area. I may try a few firms around here. Connecticut and New York have some of the most well-informed finance employees, so I believe it would be very hard to compete with those kinds of people as a high school student.</p>
<p>Also, you said you taught some kids tennis. This seems like something I would enjoy, but how would you suggest I start that sort of ‘program’?</p>
<p>I didn’t start it, I just got involved in it. In the past, kids from my high school were involved in the organization, so I asked them about it and joined in. I’m not really sure how you would go about starting your own organization though.</p>
<p>Ah, okay. There’s a kid in my class who, last summer, started a basketball program for kids. He organized the whole thing, but I never really talked to him about it, besides the one time he mentioned it. I want to do something like this, and tennis would be a good way to do it. I’ll definitely talk to him when we go back to school. </p>
<p>He said that he organized the program to make money for himself, and he received like $2500 for 2 or 3 days a week for a month. He said people would ‘pay anything you charged’ and I’m sure I could either do it for profit, or as volunteer work.</p>
<p>Wow, what that other kid did is very impressive! If you are really interested in starting a non-profit you should find other who can help you start something up. It will be much easier with the help of others than if you did it alone.</p>