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The O'Farrell High School » Community Service Requirements

Community Service Requirements

Community Service


High School Graduation Requirement

Learning to give back to the community is an essential part of being an OCS student.  

  1. The student must actively participate in their homebase’s community service project each year at OCS or complete a project approved by the principal.
  2. Complete an individual community service project approved by the student’s homebase teacher.

Homebase Community Service Projects

Homebase community service projects are chosen by the homebase and worked on as a group.  These projects may be ongoing or take place a few times a year.  Examples include: canned food drive for the Food Bank, beach clean up, serving at a homeless shelter, donating to a relief organization, etc.


Homebase teachers should appoint (or have elected) students who will take charge of and organize the project.  These projects provide excellent leadership opportunities and can be used on college applications.  With younger students, the homebase teacher may find they still need to do much of the organizing until the students are able to do it on their own.


All homebase community service projects must be submitted in advance for approval using the homebase community service project approval form.


Student Community Service Projects

Student community service projects are selected by the student and approved by the homebase teacher.  These projects may be ongoing or take place a few times a year.  They may be completed anytime during the student’s four years at OCS.  


The following guidelines should help homebase teachers with the approval process.


Minimum number of hours for volunteer projects (volunteering at a thrift store, hospital, church, homeless shelter, etc.): 40


One time service projects should generally achieve the same number of hours put into it as the volunteer hours: 40.  For example: Free dog walking service for the elderly (40 hours worth).  Putting on a benefit concert to help the Wounded Warrior Foundation should show effort worth 40 hours of organization and implementation.


All student community service projects must be submitted in advance for approval using the student community service project approval form.