Community Service Cord

Tomball ISD Community Service Cord Recognition

***The community service tracker is now available in TISD Student Link. Parents, this platform is for students. It is the student's responsibility to enter and track their hours. Thank you!!***

Community service is highly beneficial for all students in many ways. Even though volunteering is rewarding in and of itself, students may earn a community service cord to be worn at the high school graduation ceremony.

The number of hours required to earn the service cord have been adjusted to 120 total hours for Classes 2021-2024. The requirement for class of 2025 and beyond will be reassessed.

Please note: this is not a requirement for graduation.

Service Cord Guidelines

Hours may be earned beginning as early as June 1st in the summer before freshman year.
Students may not receive any form of payment or compensation for the service performed.
Parents/Guardians may not verify hours.
While many school clubs accept donations towards points or service hours for their organization, donations may not count toward service cord hours. (The only exception is blood drives.)
Community service should be done primarily to benefit others in the community at large or a community based non-profit organization and should be something outside of the student’s normal course of action.
The final approval of hours will be with the Service Cord Committee.

The following MAY NOT count toward service hours:

Duties associated with an elected school office that should be carried out in the normal course of duty for that office or activities that will allow a student to earn a grade
Internships or job shadowing
Family obligations (babysitting, caring for other family members or friends)
Duties performed in association with a student’s employment
Tutoring a friend (study groups, proof-reading a friend’s paper, studying for an exam)
Compulsory community service

The following are examples of activities that MAY count toward service hours:

Volunteer duties associated with a church or other charitable/non-profit organization
Boy Scout / Girl Scout service hours
Highway clean-up
Blood drives (including giving blood). We will allow 1 hour of community service for blood drive donations.
Structured, supervised tutoring (such as tutoring programs at school, adult education, literacy programs, citizenship programs)
Service hours (not donations) honored by NHS, Student Council, Key Club, Inter-Act, or other service club on campus

Students may download and print the forms below to track service hours. Important! Be sure you have signatures for each activity listed. (See #2 below for further explanation.)

3 step process

1 - Entering Hours

If you have several hours from one group or organization, you can enter the contact information once. Then, click "edit" to continue to add other dates/hours for the same contact.

2 - Verification of Hours

Verification by email

Students may enter the email address of their sponsor/verifier. An email will be generated prompting the sponsor/verifier to verify the hours electronically. Verifiers have the ability to edit the number of hours verified. Once verified electronically, hours can be approved/denied/partially approved by the Service Cord Committee. Note: this method is unreliable due to email firewalls. Sometimes verifiers have to retrieve these emails from their junk mail.

It is the student's responsibility to follow up with sponsors for verification via email.

Verification by uploaded document

Hours may also be verified by uploading a signed letter, certificate, or form (see below). The Service Cord Committee will review the uploaded document to make sure it meets all requirements and then approve/deny/partially approve hours depending on what is submitted. For this method, you do not need to enter an email address for your contact.

TMHS staff are not responsible for calling to verify hours. All hours must be verified electronically by the sponsor/verifier or with an uploaded form/log

3 - Approval of Hours

Verified hours will be approved as long as all the required information is entered and the hours fall within the community service guidelines described above. Approval of hours is done periodically by TMHS staff - it is not instantaneous. Please allow a few weeks for this process.

Service Hours Deadlines

**Recommended**

Submit 30 hours per school year for verification and approval. Please enter your hours in the same school year that you complete the activity.

By March 1st of the senior year - must have at least 100 hours entered AND verified

FINAL DEADLINE

By April 1st of the senior year - All hours will be reviewed for final approval

Students who have satisfied all the requirements for the cord will receive notice by mid-April of the senior year. Cords will be announced and distributed during the Senior Award Ceremony.

Community Service Tracking Logs/Form

Students may download and print the forms below to help track service hours. You can track all your hours on one log with signatures for each date or choose to combine all hours into one form like the 3rd one below. You can then enter one entry per organization and upload the form as proof of service into the new platform. These are just a suggestion to make the process easier. You are welcome to use your own log or form as long as all the requirements above are met.

Community Service Log for One Organization

Community Service Log for Various Organizations

Community Service Form for One Activity