Langley High School is committed to promoting service within our community.

Participation with service organizations has been proven to reduce stress, create a sense of community, foster relationships, and promote self-esteem and a sense of pride by contributing a meaningful impact on someone or something beyond yourself. Accordingly, each student is encouraged to engage in at least 40 hours of service during his/her high school career (10 hours per year); students earning 50 or more hours may be eligible for the Civic Seal. 

The Fundamentals

High school students may accumulate service hours leading to special recognition at graduation (i.e., service learning cord or Virginia diploma seal of excellence in civics).  In order for students to earn a Service Learning Cord students should complete 10 service hours per year for a total of 40 hours.   In order for students to earn a Civics Seal, Students may choose to complete 50+ hours to qualify for the Virginia Board of Education diploma seal for excellence in civics education. See Virginia Department of Education for criteria.  Please note that individual honor societies may have their own criteria for what constitute approved service hours.

Tracking Service Hours

ALL service hours (in and out of the building) are validated through x2vol which is the FCPS service learning system found on Schoology. FCPS encourages you to use Chrome in order to access and view full functionality of the Naviance site.

For Saxon Service:

• Go to x2vol
• Click on “Dashboard” then “Opportunities”
• All Saxon Service opportunities are listed on the “Opportunities & Projects” tab.  Click on the dates that you participated.

Ms. Julie Zimmerman Hohl, [email protected], is our activity contact for all Saxon Service opportunities. Please include the date of the service, the activity you participated with, and the amount of time.

For Opportunities not related to Saxon Service:

• Go to x2vol
• Click on “Add Hours” button at the top of the “Dashboard”
• Go to “Personal Project” and click on “Create New” to enter a new volunteer activity
• Be sure to include: the contact information of the person who verified the hour through the x2VOL system or upload an email showing the verification, the date of service, and amount of time; and check the oath statement verifying the accuracy of the information. Submit to Ms. Karen Burke at [email protected].

Service Learning Overview

See these 2 websites for complete information:

FCPS Service Learning Google Site (students can access through FCPS email) and FCPS Public Website

• Service learning is a teaching method designed to involve students in authentic and meaningful service to their communities. The intent is to instill a sense of civic responsibility by encouraging students to be active contributors to society. It is not an FCPS graduation requirement.
• Hours are tracked by X2Vol via Naviance. See below for more information and video instructions.
• Students need a minimum of 40 approved hours to earn the service cord and 50 approved hours to earn toward the civics and science seals. See more information about FCPS diploma seals here.
• Hours begin on July 1 in the summer before freshman year and end in the spring of senior year.

• The Class of 2023 is required to submit all verified service learning hours in x2VOL by Monday, April 24, 2023 if they plan to earn the service cord, civics seal, and/or science seal. 

Saxon Service

All Saxon Service activities are located in the LHS cafeteria during Langley Links. Students earn one hour of service learning at Saxon Service.  Students must obtain a pass to attend Saxon Service at http://bit.ly/Saxon_Service.  Once you have participated, you will need to request verification for your hour.  It is your responsibility to request verification for your hours. Please see below for instructions on how to add hours.  Check the Langley Calendar for Saxon Service dates.

Saxon Service activities include (but are not limited to):

• Making sandwiches or blankets for homeless people in the area
• Making dog and cat toys
• Folding origami cranes for people with Cancer
• Making cards for active duty military or children in hospitals
• Playing freerice.com to help world hunger
• Knitting blankets for young mothers
• Weaving scarves for homeless people
• Sorting crayons for Crayon Initiative
• Making reusable feminine products for girls in third world countries
• Creating beads from recycled cereal boxes for a school in Haiti
• Sewing and ironing pillow cases for children in area hospitals

Upcoming Events

To find out about service opportunities in our community, go to the Naviance link on Schoology, scroll to the bottom and click on the x2vol link.  Service opportunities are listed on the Bulletin Board, as well as, the My Opportunities button on the top banner.

Questions?

If you have any questions contact Ms. Karen Burke at [email protected].

Online Service Learning Opportunities

Students do not need to be at school to do service learning. Service learning can be as simple as shopping for food and delivering it to a food pantry (students must do all aspects of this service), and helping neighbors by walking the dog, raking leaves, or mowing the lawn (remember: this is service so the student cannot get paid).

Online opportunities for virtual service include:

UN World Food Program:

Play this online trivia game to earn grains of rice which are sent to third world countries to help world hunger. Parents can verify hours dedicated to Freerice and then students submit a service hour entry on x2Vol for approval of your hours. 

Smithsonian Digital Volunteer:

Become a Smithsonian Digital Volunteer and help us make historical documents and biodiversity data more accessible.  Join 33,326 "volunpeers" to add more to the total 670,413 pages of field notes, diaries, ledgers, logbooks, currency proof sheets, photo albums, manuscripts, biodiversity specimens labels, and historic audio recordings, that have been collaboratively transcribed and reviewed since June 2013  For more information, visit https://transcription.si.edu/.  Parents can verify hours dedicated to  Smithsonian Digital and then students submit a service hour entry on x2Vol for approval of your hours. 

Zooniverse:

The goal of Zooniverse is to enable research that would not be possible, or practical, otherwise. Zooniverse research results in new discoveries, datasets useful to the wider research community, and publications. You don’t need any specialized background, training, or expertise to participate in any Zooniverse projects. We make it easy for anyone to contribute to real academic research, on their own computer, at their own convenience. You’ll be able to study authentic objects of interest gathered by researchers, like images of faraway galaxies, historical records and diaries, or videos of animals in their natural habitats. By answering simple questions about them, you’ll help contribute to our understanding of our world, our history, our Universe, and more. (https://www.zooniverse.org/).  Parents can verify hours dedicated to  Zooniverse and then students submit a service hour entry on x2Vol for approval of your hours. 

Astudia: Astudia is an online organization that aims to provide teens with opporutnities, resources, and online service while empowering them to make a difference in the world.  They are looking for volunteers for  Chat2Serve program, in which students can sign up to help a Ukrainian  student improve their English through conversation (no teaching required!). They pair students through our partnership with ENGin, an organization that helps Ukrainian students find resources to improve their English. Students can sign up to volunteer through the website.  Parents can verify hours dedicated to Astudia and then students submit a service hour entry on x2Vol for approval of your hours. 

Writing and Art Opportunities (Langley students must NOT include their last names or any identifying information):

Pen Pals Around the World

More than two hundred students from international schools in France, Ukraine, Japan, China, and Nigeria participated last year and there is even more interest this year.  Langley’s National English Honor Society is organizing the Langley chapter for Pen Pals Around the World. NEHS leaders have created an online forum for students to exchange “hand written letters” which will be uploaded for a one on one personal exchange. All letters are written in English.  All Langley students are encouraged to participate.  We hope Langley students will find friends around the world during this pandemic and be a part of our global community.  Interested students should complete this form to join. Any questions? Contact Langley Pen Pals [email protected]

Letters for Rose:

The goal of this organization is to help combat loneliness and isolation in retirement communities during the COVID-19 pandemic. We do this by writing letters and creating artwork for citizens who live in retirement communities! You may receive up to one hour for each letter/work of art you create. All volunteers must fill out our volunteer form, linked here. Our team will reply with information on letter drop-offs and pick-up, as well as how you can get your service hours verified. Instructions and valuable hints on preparing letters and artwork can be found on this link, as well. Once the volunteers have completed their letters, they should fill out this form.

Hands-on Activities: Cranes for Cancer: Make origami cranes using 6”x6” paper and send them to this organization provides origami cranes to send as healing for people battling cancer. Instructions on how to make the cranes. Parents can verify hours dedicated to  making cranes and then students submit a service hour entry on x2Vol for approval of your hours.

Where to send the cranes once completed with your name and return address (note, you are responsible for mailing costs): Karen Grinfeld 11140 N. Canada Ridge Drive Tucson, AZ 85737 [email protected]

Dog Toys:

Make dog toys out of old t-shirts and tennis balls and deliver them to area animal shelters. Here are nstructions on how to make dog toys to donate to shelters.  Service hours are provided for creating the toys and delivering them to the shelters. Parents can verify hours dedicated to  making dog toys and then students submit a service hour entry on x2Vol for approval of your hours. 

Crayon Initiative:

Collect used crayons from your friends, neighbors, and your own house.  Crayon Initiative will melt them down and make new crayons to be distributed to pediatric units in hospitals. Information on collecting, sorting, and mailing crayons to Crayon Initiative.  Parents can verify hours dedicated to collecting, sorting, and mailing crayons and then students submit a service hour entry on x2Vol for approval of your hours.