Community Service

Community service is a non-paying job performed by a student for the benefit of the community or its institutions.

Since Paly is a public school, approved volunteer organizations are non-profits, not faith-based, not partisan and focus on providing a service to others in the greater community.

Volunteer hours do not necessarily equate to Community Service hours or Paly transcript hours. (Class of 2025 and Class of 2026 only)

Engaging in community service provides students with the opportunity to become active members of their community and has a lasting, positive impact on society at large. Community service enables students to acquire life skills and knowledge, as well as provide a service to those who need it most.

NOTE: There is not a "community service" graduation requirement. However, a few classes may assign community service as a part of their required coursework (e.g. Living Skills).

These guidelines clarify what types of volunteer hours count and do not count towards Paly Community Service.  Please familiarize yourself with these guidelines prior to performing volunteer hours.

Each Paly student will be given a HelperHelper account that they can use to record service hours.

How to get an account: 

• Access to HelperHelper is typically given to students by the end of September of their Freshman year.
• Students who entered Paly after Freshman year, and who need a HelperHelper account, should contact Jennifer Fernandez.

How to access your account:

• Download HelperHelper from the App Store, GooglePlay, or use the HelperHelper website.
• Use your school email address and password to log in.
• After you log in, you can add the community service hours you have completed.

Students should enter all of their community service hours into HelperHelper. An overview of the process is below.

• When entering your community service hours in HelperHelper:
  • Do not use acronyms in your entry.
  • Opportunity Field - Be descriptive about the work you completed (e.g., "Middle School Tutor" not "Volunteer")
  • Coordinator Name Field - Enter a person’s first and last name. Cannot be a family member.
  • Coordinator Email Field - Enter a valid email address for the volunteer coordinator. Cannot be a family member.
  • Message to Coordinator Field - Approvers use the information in this field to better understand the work you completed. Please use this field to:
    • Summarize actual volunteer work completed. 
    • Include a date range (MM/DD to MM/DD) for hours that span more than one day.
    • If this field is left blank and your opportunity description is unclear, your hours may be rejected.
• A verification email is automatically sent to the volunteer coordinator to approve hours.
• If your community service hours have not been approved by the volunteer organization within one week, follow-up with the volunteer coordinator to confirm they received the email from HelperHelper to approve your hours.
• Once your hours have been approved by the volunteer organization, the Paly Community Service team will review your HelperHelper entry to confirm that it follows the Paly Community Service Guidelines. Hours will be approved/verified if they meet the guidelines.
• Entries that have not been approved by the volunteer coordinator within three months may be deleted from your HelperHelper account.

It is the student’s responsibility to make sure that the Volunteer Coordinator’s name and email are correct and that the hours get approved by the Volunteer Coordinator.

The President’s Volunteer Service Award (PVSA) is awarded by Paly in the Fall and Spring of each academic year. A Paly student may submit volunteer service hours each semester. The submission periods and process will be announced via Schoology.

To qualify for a PVSA, a student must have completed the required hours within any 12 month period for the award they are seeking (see award levels below).

To receive a PVSA from Paly, the community service hours must be performed during the student's Paly academic career, from the day after 8th grade promotion to the Spring submission period of their senior year.

Students may be awarded multiple President’s Volunteer Service Awards during their time at Paly.

The PVSA is a civil award issued to recognize individuals that achieve a certain number of volunteer hours within a 12 month period. Although there are multiple levels of this national award, Paly will only award the PVSA at the following levels:

Teen Award (<16 yrs 5 months old ):

• Gold = 100+ hours

Young Adult Award (16 yrs and older):

• Bronze = 100 - 174 hours
• Silver =175 – 249 hours
• Gold = 250+ hours

In order for a student's volunteer hours to be recorded on their Senior-year transcript:

1. The community service hours must be performed during the student's Paly academic career, from the day after 8th grade promotion to the Fall of their senior year;
2. A student must have completed 100 (or more) volunteer hours during their Paly academic career; and
3. A student's community service hours must be entered on HelperHelper and APPROVED/VALIDATED. The student does not need to have received a PVSA in order for transcript hours to be recorded.

If you have additional questions, please contact Jennifer Fernandez.