Is Sister Cities Exchange Community Service?

Parents Forum
1

<p>Hi All,
With scholarship "season" just around the corner, my daughter is trying to get her activities list together. We are confused about where to put one of her experiences: She's been a member of our sister cities program for four and a half years. They have a small but very successful and active student exchange program with 3 different cities. She completed one exchange a year and a half ago and is preparing for a 2nd trip (to a different city) this summer. We (mostly she) will host a student from the same sister city the following summer. </p>

<p>The counselors have suggested this is a community service. What do you think? Is that legitimate? The association here is very closely tied with our city government. There are lots of meetings with city and school district leaders on both ends. She did spend 2 weeks hosting an exchange student in an "official" capacity (most of their time that 2 weeks was in organized activities--tours, city events, sightseeing, cultural activities, etc). On the flip side, she also spent two weeks there as the sister cities ambassador. Planning, preparing, and fundraising was a LOT of work. </p>

<p>But, I am mostly concerned about what scholarship judges will think. What do you think? Given that this was also a fun experience, and she got a fantastic trip out of the deal, does this really qualify as a community service? And if so, how in the world do we report the hours?
Thanks!</p>

2

<p>Community service ( IMO) usually seems to be something from which the volunteer doesn’t directly benefit. ( isn’t the intended beneficiary).
It might make a good topic for an essay though.</p>

3

<p>What are your choices other than “Community Service?” It’s definitely something good that she should include in all applications in one way or another.</p>

4

<p>Emeraldkitty: That’s what I said, too but then the counselors pointed out that tons of kids take organized packaged service trips that they have to pay for where they work a little and play a lot. Then they report those trips as community service even though there was a great benefit to the student involved. </p>

<p>Each scholarship is different. There are some that ask for a list of community service, leadership and extracurricular activities separately. Others ask for only one list of activities. </p>

<p>I wonder if we could separate her time in sister cities and report part of it as a community service (when she was hosting the exchange student and chaperones) and the balance of her time (her trip there) as an extracurricular?</p>