In order to receive credit for the NCSSM Service Requirement, the following 3 parts must be completed:​​

• Students must serve a minimum of 60 hours.

• Must attend a presentation session during their junior year to learn about opportunities 

• Present their service to a faculty/staff member and their peers during presentation week of their senior year.

*** All 3 parts of the requirement must be submitted in the appropriate SchooLinks Experience Tracking Entry and completed. A completed entry is verified by the supervisor and Service Learning Coordinator.

When can my service begin? When should my service be completed?

• Class of 2026: service hours could begin on May 26, 2024 and must be completed by May 1, 2026.

• Class of 2027: service hours can begin on May 24, 2025 and must be completed by May 1, 2027.
  
  

Does my service have to take place in NC?

Due to the original philosophy behind the Service Requirement (giving back to North Carolina) service hours must take place in NC. 

Students can request an exception to this guideline based on the following circumstances. Students should email the Service Learning Coordinator prior to beginning service for approval.

• The student resides with a second parent out-of-state during the time of the service opportunity

• The student resides in a community bordering Virginia, South Carolina, Tennessee, or Georgia and the service opportunity is more accessible in the neighboring state. 

• If a student is traveling to another country for a period of time to visit family, they can request to complete hours in that country.  If a student is approved to volunteer abroad, a maximum of 40 hours can be counted towards the NCSSM Service Requirement and 20 hours must still take place in NC. 

What types of service count towards the NCSSM Service Requirement?

Volunteering at nonprofit organizations, religious organizations, hospitals through the volunteer program, schools, NC local government programs (please email the Service Learning Coordinator to make sure your program will count), and qualifying NCSSM opportunities. If you are unsure if your opportunity would count for the service requirement, please email the Service Learning Coordinator (serviceleanring@ncssm.edu).

What qualifies as service at NCSSM?

Service on campus or through NCSSM clubs and organizations should reflect the purpose behind the service requirement, which is to give back to the state of NC. Therefore, service should be in-person, involve external community members, and be available to the NCSSM community or club members. NCSSM opportunities include: volunteering through official NCSSM Service Learning opportunities, volunteering through a chartered club which meets the club guidelines for service, which can be found HERE. 

Can I accept a form of monetary compensation for my service?

Students cannot accept any form of monetary compensation (cash, checks, stipend, gift cards, etc.). NCSSM Service hours are strictly voluntary and must be unpaid. Any student who receives monetary compensation for their NCSSM Service Requirement hours will be subject to disciplinary action as determined by the Service Learning Coordinator and the Dean of Students.

Recommended Timeline For Completing Service Hours

NCSSM students often have opportunities such as SRIP, internships, or other activities during the summer between their junior and senior years. The following is a recommended timeline to help ensure you are on track to complete your service by the May 1st deadline. Of course, the sooner you complete 60 hours of service the better!

• Complete 20-30 hours in the summer before your junior year

• Complete 10 - 20 hours of service before January 1st of your junior year

• Complete 10-20 hours of service before senior year move-in

• Complete 10-20 hours between move-in and May 1st of your senior year

Deadlines

• Audience Member (junior) and Service Presentation (senior) entries must be logged into SchooLinks no later than April 1st

• Service hours logged and approved by supervisor & NCSSM Service Learning Coordinator May 1st of a students senior year

Recovery Program

Students who do not meet the requirement by the above deadlines will have the opportunity to recover the NCSSM Service Requirement graduation credit between May 1st and commencement. Students who do not complete the credit recovery by 5pm two days prior to commencement will be allowed to walk at the ceremony, but will not receive their diploma. The diploma will be mailed to the students home address following commencement over the summer.

SchooLinks Experience Tracking

The NCSSM Service Requirement is tracked in the SchooLinks platform. Each part of the requirement is logged through the “Experience Tracking” portion of the website. Each entry requires students to not only log the experience, but reflect as well. To complete their entry and receive credit, students must provide thoughtful reflection to the prompts provided, receive supervisor verification, and approval from the Service Learning Coordinator.

Beginning May 24, 2025, responses to the prompts on ALL Experience Tracking entries will be visible to supervisors. This includes responses to prompts on the service requirement entry used to track service hours.

How many hours do I have to complete?

Students must complete a minimum of 60 hours of service to fulfill the NCSSM Service Requirement, which must be logged and marked completed on the SchooLinks platform.

Do my service hours have to be completed during the summer?

Hours can be completed at any time and do not have to be completed solely during the summer. Extended weekends, fall/spring break, winter break, etc. can all be used for service.

How do I record my service hours?

NCSSM uses the SchooLinks platform to track all parts of the NCSSM Service Requirement. For step-by-step instructions, please visit the SchooLinks page on the NCSSM Service Learning website HERE.

Who can be a supervisor on your SchooLinks entry?

The SchooLinks supervisor email address should be an official adult from the organization who can verify your service. The adult should not be related to the student or any students currently enrolled at NCSSM. Also, members of the most recent graduating NCSSM class cannot serve as a supervisor.

What would NOT count for service? 

This list is not exhaustive of everything that would not count for your service, but is a list of common ones received. As new ones come up, they will be added to this list.

Internships:
Internships do not count towards the NCSSM Service Requirement. See below to help distinguish between volunteering vs internships:

Volunteering

• Purpose: To help others or contribute to the community.

• Benefit: Primarily benefits the organization or people being served.

• Example: Serving meals at a shelter, being a volunteer camp counselor

Internship

• Purpose: To gain personal experience or skills related to a future career.

• Benefit: Primarily benefits the intern through learning or career development.

• Example: Assisting in a law office to learn about legal work, shadowing a doctor, helping with marketing at an organization.

Donation Drives/Collection:
Collecting or making items to donate to an organization.

Shadowing doctors/nurses:
Volunteering must be done through the volunteer coordinator at the hospital.

Doing something on your own to assist someone else:
Tutoring a student on your own, helping someone with yard work, etc. All service must be completed through an organization.

Assisting A For Profit Business/Organization:
Students cannot log volunteer hours at a for profit business for the service requirement unless this organization is attached to a nonprofit. Examples of what would not count (not exhaustive of all examples): coffee shops, lawn companies, etc. Example of what would count: Habitat for Humanity ReStore, Scrap Exchange Thrift Store.

“Double Dipping”
Students cannot “double dip” service hours, meaning students cannot receive credit for their service academically, as an award, or receive any recognition and have that experience count for the service requirement. Therefore, students may not use NCSSM summer research or mentorship hours to complete the service requirement as students are already receiving academic credit for the research experience. An example of double dipping outside of NCSSM would be hours for the Eagle and Gold Awards. 

Service Awards & The NCSSM Service Requirement
The NCSSM Service Requirement hours must be separate from any type of award or recognition except the Durham Mayor’s Award, the Presidential Service Award, or the NCSSM Outstanding Service Award (automatically awarded to students who complete more than 150 hours of service). NCSSM is NOT a qualifying organization for the Presidential Award. Students interested in the Presidential or Durham Mayor's Award should look at those websites for information about how to receive the award.

Programs/Organizations created by students (NCSSM or Otherwise):
Shall not count towards service hours if not a registered nonprofit organization (a 501(c)3 organization). If organization is a registered nonprofit organization, hours must be approved by an adult in leadership and cannot include any hours related to a leadership role. Hours cannot include those completing tasks for the leadership role.

Holding A Position/Title
If a student is nominated, voted, appointed or by any other means holds a position within an organization, the hours involved with said position cannot count towards the service requirement. This would be considered double dipping even if the appointment is not paid. Examples would include, but not limited to: councils, pageants, boards, etc.

Can my hours on Martin Luther King Jr Day count towards my NCSSM Service Requirement?

Yes! Those who volunteer on MLK Day through the NCSSM Service Learning opportunities may register their hours through the service platform to count for the Service Requirement. The supervisor would be the NCSSM faculty/staff chaperone for the event.

Can I use hours working with a research opportunity to fulfill my NCSSM Service Requirement hours?

Students can use research opportunities to fulfill their NCSSM Service Requirement if the agency is a nonprofit and located in NC. The NCSSM summer research and mentorship experiences do not fulfill this requirement as the student is already receiving credit for the course. If a student plans to volunteer at a nonprofit research laboratory, there are a few stipulations: the students work cannot be published and/or credited with any findings that will lead to financial gain, awards, or recognition and the student cannot use this type of service to fulfill assignments and/or requirements set forth by NCSSM or another organization.

May I use a service trip through a nonprofit organization to fulfil my service requirement hours?

Service trips to other states or abroad may be used to fulfill service requirement hours as long as: 1) the organization is a nonprofit organization based in NC and 2) a minimum of 20 hours are completed with the organization prior to or following the trip at the organization in NC. If a student participates in a service trip, the student may not include the following hours: time spent traveling, sightseeing, sleeping, etc. Students may only count time spent actively engaged in volunteer efforts.

Can I tutor with a virtual tutoring organization to fulfill my service hours? 

Online tutoring platforms must serve residents of NC, be located in NC, and be approved by the Service Learning Coordinator in advance of service.
At this time, the only approved online tutoring platforms are:
SMath Tutors, NC Virtual Public Schools Peer Tutoring, ViP Tutoring, TutorLion.

Can students count prior service towards their NCSSM Service Requirement hours?

Service hours may not begin for a student until the day following NCSSM Commencement during their sophomore year. Students cannot transfer hours from their previous school to NCSSM to fulfill the NCSSM Service Requirement.