The Father Thomas Scecina

Servant Leaders Program

Student Information and Deadlines – 2017/2018 School Year

As a Catholic school, urged by the Spirit, we strive to walk the road Christ Himself walked, a way of poverty and obedience, of service and self-sacrifice. (CCC 852). At Scecina Memorial High School, we draw inspiration on this journey from our namesake, Father Thomas Scecina, whose life story is defined by discipleship and service to others. One of Father Tom’s favorite phrases, “give that little extra,” urges our community to continue to promote the service of others in order to become more like Christ.

In the inspiring footsteps of Father Thomas Scecina, servant-leadership is a core Scecina value. A servant leader is one who helps meet others’ needs so that they can reach their highest destinies in life. The over-arching goal of our Christian Service environment at Scecina is to foster in every student an understanding and true spirit of servant leadership aligned with Jesus’ prayers, words, and actions in the Gospels. It is for this reason that we ask all of our students to partake in our service program. The guidelines for the 2017-2018 school year are as follows:

  • All students are required to complete 15 service hours.
  • Any service hours completed during the school year, whether they be during the week, weekend or during school breaks, are eligible to be counted toward a student’s total number of service hours for the year.
  • In order to receive credit for service performed, students are asked to complete and turn in a service card.
  • Service Cards can be turned in to the Campus Ministry office, or in the box located in the upper hallway under the Scecina prayer book which is outside the theology classrooms.
  • Students are asked to completely fill out and return their service cards within 10 days of the service experience. If a student participated in service opportunities over the summer and would like for that time to count toward their total number of service hours for the year, a service card must be submitted and approved by the Director of Campus Ministry within 10 days of returning to school.
  • Time for transportation to and from an activity does not count for service. Only the time spent doing actual service should be put on the service card. Please round the time to the nearest half hour.
  • Each different service experience should be put on a different card, even if done more than once. A student cannot put multiple dates on one card for any event. Each time one does service, a different card is needed.
  • Students will be notified of their service hour status via their progress reports and report cards.
  • Students who did not complete their service hours for the previous school year will be notified at the beginning of the year of how many service hours they must complete in addition to the 15 hours that are required for this school year.
  • Students are expected to be honest on their service card and service record at all times. Any student found to be dishonest will be contacted by the Director of Campus Ministry and will lose ALL hours connected to the service.
  • All students are required to complete a written reflectionabout the service they performed. The assignment is attached.
  • Students may turn in their written reflection assignments to the Campus Ministry Office.
  • If the Campus Ministry office is closed when the student attempts to turn in their reflection assignment, the student may turn in the assignment by
  • Emailing Ms. Noser, the Director of Campus Ministry, at
  • Sliding the printed paper under the door of the office
  • The Director of Campus Ministry will provide a confirmation that the paper was received and will give feedback for the student on the assignment.
  • The deadline to turn in both service hour cards and written reflection assignments will be

Monday, April 30th, 2018.

  • Failure to complete both the written reflection and all 15 hours of service will result in the student receiving an incomplete for their service requirement.
  • Underclassmen who receive an incomplete for the 2017-2018 school year will be required to participate in two service projects for the 2018-2019 school year.
  • Seniors who receive an incomplete for their service requirement in the 2017-2018 school year will be unable to receive their diploma until they complete their service hours and have fulfilled all other graduation requirements.

Written Reflection Assignment

These following questions are asking for a personal reflection about how you understand service in your relationship with God. This will be different for every person. If you are not Catholic, we ask you to write about your particular faith tradition and how you see service. If you are unsure about your faith and spirituality, we ask that you write about that and about how this experience influenced that.

Please write a 300 to 500 word, typed response to the following prompts:

1)What did you do for service throughout the year and why did you chose that?

2)What did you learn about yourself or those you served from doing this work?

3)How do you think the service you did exemplified servant leadership, as defined by “Following Jesus’ example of meeting people’s needs and helping them fulfill their highest destinies”?

Grading

This written reflection assignment is a required component of the Scecina Christian Service program. However, the purpose of this assignment is to help the student reflect on his or her experience of serving others. As such, the assignment is not graded on a traditional basis but rather is graded based on the following grading rubric.

Exceptional / Satisfactory / Incomplete
Content / Student describes his or her experience of service in detail. Student shares several things he or she learned from serving others. Student talks in detail about how his or her personal faith and values were reflected in the work he or she chose. Reflection consists of at least 300 words or more. / Student gives any description of his or her service. Student shares at least one thing he or she learned about him or herself or about those he or she served. Student shares something about the effect of the service on his or her faith.Reflection consists of at least 300 words or more. / Student does not answer one or more of the questions.
OR
Student does not write at least 300 words.
Reflection / It is clear that student deeply reflected on the service work he or she did and gave thoughtful careful answers to questions. / Student shows some attempt to reflect on his or her experience by answering all questions / N/A
Writing/Grammar / Student writes in complete, logical sentences that have no grammatical errors. / Student writes in a clear manner that may include some typos or grammatical errors. / Student’s writing does not make sense or is incoherent.
Submission / Student submits assignment before the assigned deadline. / Student does not submit the assignment or attempts to submit after the deadline.

If a student submits their essay before the deadline and they receive a grade of incomplete, their essay will be returned and they will be invited to resubmit the essay with guidance about how they can improve. For this reason, it is highly recommended that students submit their essays BEFORE the deadline. If a student submits the essay on or after the deadline and they receive a grade of incomplete, the student will receive an incomplete for their service for that school year.