SchooLinks connects students with community service options
Whether it is to set up a community fun run on Wetlands Edge or an altar to honor El Día de los Muertos at Napa Junction Elementary School, chances are American Canyon High School students are there to volunteer. After all, the entire high school student body — more than 1,700 teens — must fulfill 40 hours of community service to graduate.
Until now, however, high school counselors and students logged the hours on paper. Counselors then entered the information online, sheet after sheet. Crumpled, grubby sheets would occasionally land on counselors’ desks.
All that is about to change. Enter SchooLinks.
The school is implementing the online platform to connect American Canyon High school students with community projects. SchooLinks allows the public to set up an account and post real-world opportunities for the teens to help them fulfill their community service requirements. The teens only have to sign up.
It legitimizes the community service process, American Canyon High School Assistant Principal Lauren Lahey said. The plan is to have the program 100 percent in place by January, she added.
The new system ensures that community service hours are completed. The platform requires an email address of the person supervising the teens and of the school counselor.
The teens also have to answer questions about their community service experience and upload pictures of themselves at the event, Lahey said.
SchooLinks also allows students to explore internship, job-shadowing and other options, Lahey said.
The school has been introducing SchooLinks this fall to the student body and various community groups. Lahey has worked on the project with Danielle Molinari, college and career readiness coordinator at Napa Valley Unified School District, and Karin Servente, parent liaison coordinator at American Canyon High School.
They plan to reach out to parent-teacher and service organizations. “They’re always in need of help,” said Servente, a longtime community volunteer.
The goal behind the community service requirement is to give back to the community, Servente said. “We’re a town that thrives on voluntarism and community.”
Lahey said community service embodies the school’s vision and mission of helping students figure out who they are, where they belong and what their impact they can be.
Students learn important life skills though community service, Lahey said. They learn how to collaborate, how to be responsible and “how to show up on time.”
The students also learn how to work with people they do not know. That’s a “huge life skill” to have as they enter the workforce, Lahey said.
Community members can post opportunities on SchooLinks at: bit.ly/3WD1G59.
