If you’re in high school, you’ve probably heard a few different numbers regarding community service hours: 40 hours, 75 hours, 100 hours. The honest answer to how many community service hours you need is that it depends on what they’re for, what you’re hoping to achieve, and where you live.

Here’s some insight on the three most common reasons to seek out community service hours and how to make the time mean something along the way.

National Honor Society

NHS doesn’t set one number for the whole country. The service requirement is set by your local chapter, not the national organization. That’s why it varies so much from school to school. One chapter asks members for at least 10 hours every marking period, while another asks for 40 hours across all of high school. Some chapters also split the requirement between school service, chapter projects, and service in the wider community.

Before you start logging, ask your NHS adviser for the chapter’s written requirements: what counts, how to document it, and when the hours are due.

Graduation

Whether you need service hours to graduate depends on your state and district. Maryland is the best-known example: every public school student there must complete at least 75 hours of service-learning to earn a diploma, and it was the first state to make service a graduation requirement.

If you live somewhere else, ask your school counselor whether your district or school has its own requirements.

Scholarships

Scholarship requirements vary the most. Some don’t ask for a set number of hours at all; they want to hear what you did and what you learned. Others are specific. For example, the Florida Academic Scholars award asks for 100 hours of volunteer service, paid work, or a mix of both.

Requirements like these can change from year to year, so always check the scholarship’s official site or guidelines before you plan around a number.

Making Your Community Service Hours Count

It’s easy to treat service like just another box to check. The service that means the most usually comes from showing up somewhere consistently, long enough to learn what the people there actually need. A few tips:

• Stay with one cause. Regular time with one organization teaches you more than a string of one-day events.
• Ask before you act. Find out what the organization needs before deciding what you’ll do.
• Keep a simple log. Write down dates, hours, and ensure you get a supervisor’s name and signature.
• Check before double counting. Some schools won’t let the same hours count toward both NHS and another requirement.

If you’re interested in health and want to serve alongside other students, a MEDLIFE high school chapter is one place to start.

MEDLIFE partners with low-income communities in Latin America and Africa, and student chapters run local projects as well as participate in volunteer projects abroad. Ask your counselor whether MEDLIFE chapter activities count toward your requirements.

To learn how you can get involved with MEDLIFE today, fill out the form below or download our brochure!