Community service becomes mandatory outside of school

By Meagan Pruitt

   Transitioning from set school community service days each year, students now are required to complete 12.5 hours per year on their own.
   Those who complete over 100 hours will receive a gold metal, 75 to 100 a silver metal and 50 to 75 a bronze metal. These awards will be given out at the end of the year.
   “We feel that community and cultural awareness is a critical part of the education here at North Cross,”said  Alex Hash, community outreach coordinator. “Like Theodore Roosevelt said, ‘to educate a human being only in academics and not educate in morality is to educate a menace to society.’” 
   The school finds that 12.5 hours of free time could be estimated as nearly two days of outreach in the community. 
   While this new requirement is controversial amongst some students, the school continues to emphasize the importance of community outreach. Not only will the recipients benefit from the proceedings, but students will have a greater impression on colleges from the extracurricular activity. 
   “Although it is a small amount of time, it’s enough time for each student to receive a certain amount of awareness,” Hash said.
   Not all outreach opportunities are off campus though. Vincient Arnold’s (‘16) Tutoring Club gathers students after school nearly every Tuesday to tutor at Jackson Middle School and help with the Community Youth Program (CYP) at St. John’s Episcopal Church.
   “It will definitely help the club, and overall, I think it will be a good thing for the school,” Arnold said.