With school closures, social distancing, and rules put in place COVID-19 has negatively impacted the amount of service opportunities available to students. Understandably, several schools have discontinued service learning and community service programs for students as a result of these new and extraordinary circumstances. Some schools on the other hand have come up with innovative ways to redefine their service program and keep students active in volunteer work from home. During the pandemic, school volunteer coordinators and students have welcomed school volunteering with the help of technology and innovative ideas. Here are some possible activities you can do from home and in person:

Parkdale’s Canned Food and Toiletry Drive

Our very own panthers are doing a can food and toiletry drive. This service hour opportunity was introduced by the class of 2022. This opportunity will take place on Apr. 6th through Apr. 12th every student will be given the opportunity to bring canned food items and toiletry items to receive service hours. For every two items each student will receive a service hour. Stay on the lookout for more information regarding this event!

Smithsonian Digital Volunteers

According to Dosomething.org, “The Smithsonian Institution is the world’s largest museum, education, and research complex.” Although they are a big company they still need your “Help [to] make their collections more accessible by volunteering online to transcribe historical documents or edit Wikipedia articles related to their artifacts and research.” Not only is this an easy and fun way to earn service hours but it’s also a new opportunity to learn new skills.

Catchafire

According to Dosomething.org, “This volunteer search tool is exclusively for online volunteer projects”. Each of the projects found within the site can range anywhere from an hour to some weeks. These projects have activities that focus on editing pictures to phone calls to even bigger projects. This is another great opportunity that allows students to engage with the world and receive hours for doing something they like.

Parkdale’s Student Government Association (SGA)

Other possible ways to earn service hours is by attending a lot of Parkdale’s after school activities such as Game Night, karaoke night, lyrical storm, and many more activities! Just follow the links and zoom information that is sent to you by the SGA advisor Mr.Adams every week.

Although the pandemic has cancelled a lot of in person activities Prince George’s County Public Schools still require a student to complete their twenty four service hours in order to graduate.