Mount Carmel Academy
Community Service Requirement

The following was written by Emily Estes, a graduate of Carnegie Vanguard High School in HISD.  We thank Ms. Estes for her very well-written and appropriate explanation.

Graduation is not all about the glory of finishing high school, but also about the commitment that one has to the community as you progress into your adult life.  Mount Carmel Academy ensures this lesson with a requirement of community service hours before graduation.  Each student must complete one hundred hours of community service (100 hours) and document them in the appropriate forms found in the counseling office.  Any service that a student has performed between 9th and 12th grade (including service completed during the summer before 9th grade) can be counted towards their hours. 

The activities are not limited to school-organized service events.  The one hundred hours can come from anything a student decides to participate in which benefits the community.  Activities range from volunteering at the Houston Children's Museum to tours at MCA for prospective parents and students to helping at church or neighborhood support centers.

From National Honor Society projects to local religious activities, participation in many types of community service projects are encouraged for MCA students to meet this important graduation requirement.  With one hundred hours as a necessary achievement, the diversity among student participation is great at MCA.

Since this is MCA's first year, we want to make it clear that this is basically 25 hrs. per school year at MCA.  Therefore, Seniors will need to complete 25 hrs. this school year, Juniors 25 hrs. this year and 25 hrs. next school year making a total of 50 hrs.; and so on for Sophomores and Freshmen.