Appendices

A community service project is included in the CETH 10 course, and is recommended as an option for CETH 20 and CETH 30. The following guidelines may help you to organize such a project.

Guidelines for Community Service

1. The service work is completely voluntary; the students may not receive any payment.
2. Although helping one’s family is of fundamental value, students need to be challenged to reach out to members of the community at large. As a result (except in extraordinary circumstances), if working for a relative, the work must be directly related to a service club or parish organization.
3. Students are not to do service work for any private business.
4. Students are not to include work done for a club, sports team, etc., for which work is a compulsory part of membership.
5. Students are not to include work done as payment for a fine, etc.
6. All community service work is to be completed outside of school time.

At the completion of the community service project, both student and supervisor are required to complete forms which evaluate the student’s performance in the following areas: dependability, punctuality, ability to follow instructions, attitude, and politeness. The supervisor verifies the number of hours served by the student and forms are returned to the Christian Ethics teacher.

As a final step to this project, each student reflects on the service given, using the following questions:

1. Describe your service work, the people you met, and your best and worst experiences.
2. How did you imitate Christ in the work you did? Find a gospel passage about Jesus that relates to the work you did and explain how Jesus’ story relates to your community service work.
3. What did you learn about yourself from this experience? What did you learn about the people you served? How have you improved as a person as a result of your community service work?

The answers to these questions are the basis for a final report by the student, which completes the entire community service program.

Other components enhance this program, such as helping students identify their talents and gifts for service, evaluating various service placements before beginning work, and using prayer services before, during, and after the community service placements. Two excellent resources are Giving and Growing: A Student’s Guide for Service Projects and Learning to Serve, Serving to Learn: A Christian Service Program for Students.

The following chart is reproduced with permission of Scarboro Missions magazine from their April, 1996, issue. For more information, contact: Scarboro Missions, 2685 Kingston Road, Scarborough, Ontario, M1M 1M4.