NEBRASKA CITY – From cleaning up after community festivals or joining in with a flash mob dance, Nebraska City students have logged over 108,000 community service hours since it was added to graduation requirements nearly 30 years ago, but this year is the last.

School Superintendent Mark Fritch said a graduation requirement for community service is not needed in a school district where giving back is an underpinning of the culture.

Fritch: “Our students support their fellow students as well as anywhere I’ve seen. When we talk about giving rides to their classmates to make sure that they can participate in activities, tutoring, after school clubs, Friday friends – all those things don’t count as community service, but it’s about doing the right thing and helping others and that’s just what  happens around here.”

 

Curriculum coordinator Kate Sherwin organized meetings with middle and high school students and said she was surprised at how highly they valued their own experiences with community service.

 Sherwin: “I think it was about the feelings. It made them feel good and they got to see others feel good.”

She said the school wants to build on the momentum for the culture of One Pioneer Family.

Sherwin: “How do we get kids to feel, number one, like they are part of their community so that, number two, they see the importance of giving back.”

Fritch said new requirements trim the minimum credit hours to 230 after the state Legislature’s mandates helped credit hour requirements swell to 245 hours. He said although community service is no longer required, students say it remains beneficial .

Fritch: “To a T, 100 percent said ‘we value, understand and believe in community service. Overwhelming from our students.”

When the discussion turned to what has counted as community service, uncertainty set in. Middle schoolers who play music for the city’s Christmas tree lighting or serve breakfast on Veterans Day did not receive credit. What about high schoolers babysitting during the pandemic, working a job or taking a role in school activities?

 

 

Fritch: “So when they go and read at Northside, when they go and peer model at a recess at our elementary, that doesn’t count toward their graduation. We start worrying about does it count or does it not count instead of actually valuing what it’s really about and that’s giving back to our community.”

Fritch said community service should not be about a graduation credit, but about helping others.