Academics

STA Junior/Senior Service Project

Criteria for Selecting an Agency

All projects must meet the following criteria in order to be approved. Students seeking to perform their service project at any agency not listed in the current agency directory MUST contact Mrs. Absher for approval. Approval must take place BEFORE contracts are signed and before any hours are served.

  1. Personal – The project must be one in which the student will spend the majority of her time dealing directly with the persons she sets out to serve. This means that projects in which a large amount of clerical, janitorial, or other non-personal tasks are not be acceptable.
  2. Special Needs – The people served by the student should have more than the usual amount of challenges. These challenges might include, but aren’t restricted to, one or more of the following: extreme poverty, serious physical or mental illness, old age, lack of family interaction or support, physical and/or mental handicaps, social or cultural deprivation, trouble with the law, problems with parents or school, homeless, etc.
  3. Enduring – The project needs to be of a sufficient length to allow students to have a real and lasting effect on the persons they are helping and also have a lasting effect on the student.
  4. Different – The project should be a new experience for the student. If the student has done volunteer work in the past, she needs to select a different agency for this service commitment. We do not permit students to work at an agency where they are employed even if it meets the criteria in all other ways.
  5. Reflective – The service work should provide students with experiences to think about and to share with others via their capstone project.
  6. Challenging – Service projects should not be easy. If they are too familiar, they will have little lasting effect. Also, projects which are not challenging quickly become boring and students may lose sight of the people they are serving.
  7. Commitment – Because students represent themselves and STA, it is essential that she keep commitment to her agency. It is important to remember that she signed a contract with an agency and they have the right to expect punctuality and completion of the work given.