Starting this school year, GDS students can count volunteer hours in religious settings toward the 60-hour community service requirement for graduation.
The updated policy, which previously required service to be secular, now allows students to log hours for activities such as teaching Sunday school, assisting with religious camps or volunteering for non-secular events at places of worship.
“In the past, one of our guidelines for community service was that it had to be nonpartisan and secular,” associate director of community engagement and experiential learning (CEEL) Michelle McKeever said. “Because GDS is not a religious institution, we had historically not counted things that were directly supporting the religious part of an institution.”
McKeever explained that the policy update was based on student feedback and a national report from the Center for Expanding Leadership and Opportunity, a center focused on leadership and service opportunities for young people. The report recommended a new approach to community service in the U.S., advocating for student-driven service instead of the traditional model of service learning that prioritizes one-time acts of volunteering. McKeever said the report influenced the CEEL offices decision to take student feedback about the service hour policy.
Under the new rules, students can now include service hours tied to their religious communities, provided the activities align with non-profit work. McKeever said activities like running food drives or soup kitchens through religious organizations have always counted for service hours because they serve the broader community. The change expands eligibility to include work more closely tied to faith-based organizations, such as teaching and mentoring.
McKeever also conducted focus groups with GDS students in the spring of 2024 to better understand their perspectives on community service. She aimed to have four students from each grade in the focus groups, but the turnout skewed towards juniors and seniors.
“She [McKeever] asked us what should qualify for service hours, including whether service trips and religious activities should count, ” senior Layla Coyne, who participated in a focus group, said.
“Religious organizations were one thing that really came out of the feedback that students thought should be supported by GDS,” McKeever said.
Senior Shanwai Lin participated in one of the focus groups organized by McKeever last spring and advocated for the inclusion of religious service. “A big thing I wanted to change was that service hours associated with a religious group didn’t qualify,” he said.
The change has drawn positive responses from students, especially those who have volunteered extensively in religious settings. Lin said he accumulated over 100 hours volunteering with his church, including running camps and assisting with service projects.
“Unfortunately, I can’t log those because they happened before the new policy was implemented, but the volunteering I do with my church from this point on can be included as well,” Lin added.
Senior Sawyer Massey volunteered through his church, Chevy Chase Presbyterian, to help a program providing food, clothing and scholarships to students and families in Shikokho, a village in Kenya.
Massey said he spent more than 200 hours on the project, but under the previous policy, he could not count the hours towards his requirement. “I think it’s a great opportunity for students to show their identity through their service,” he said.
Senior Beck Holtzman, however, earned service hours teaching Hebrew to fourth– and fifth–graders at his synagogue two years ago. “I had to go through a process and explain how my lessons were educational and not religious,” Holtzman said.
He noted that while his teaching supported students preparing for bar mitzvahs, his role focused on teaching language skills.
Senior Bijan Hollinger, who volunteered at a summer camp in Maine affiliated with the Baha’i faith, said he is pleased with the updated policy. Hollinger’s work included teaching youth classes on the history of the Baha’i faith and organizing prayer circles.
“Service is service; everyone does it their own way. I’m happy with the change,” he said.
McKeever said that the new guidelines are designed to make service feel more integrated into students’ lives. “We want students to appreciate how much they’re already doing and continue that good work,” she said, adding that many students log far more than the required 60 hours by the time they graduate.
Gabe Levine contributed reporting.