Another way to get ahead this summer
| Tuesday, May 26 2009 10:43 AM
Last Updated Tuesday, May 26 2009 10:43 AM
If this isn't the worst possible annoyance for parents with high school teens, it has to be up there, alongside late-night chauffeuring duties and outgrown-overnight blue jeans.
The Kern High School District, in the same jam as school districts across the country, has severely cut back its summer school schedule, including both remedial and "get-ahead" classes. Parents who have always considered summer school a good way to roust their couch-dwelling, borderline-vegetative, "I'm bored"-mumbling offspring -- for six weeks anyway -- may be stuck.
One year after cutting its summer school offerings by 10 percent, the first such cutback in roughly two decades, the district has pruned its summer classes again, this time by about a third. That six-week "get ahead" chemistry class your kid was hoping to take, so he could squeeze band into his schedule next fall? Consider yourself lucky if you found a spot. Remedial classes, known as supplemental hourly, have been cut almost as severely.
But the cutbacks point to potential opportunities elsewhere, especially for students hoping for acceptance at decent universities.
Four-year colleges, including the University of California campuses and most top private schools, look very favorably at community service. It's weighed heavily alongside grades, test scores, application essays, extracurricular activities and the few other variables upon which students have control -- and the more competitive the university, the weightier volunteerism's influence.
"It's a major factor," said Catalina Mendiola, an early academic outreach coordinator with UC Santa Barbara. "Colleges look for students who are consistently involved in community activities."
Why? Because universities want to know they're educating fully formed individuals, not academic automatons. They want to know they're opening their doors to people with a sense of mission, a feel for the big picture and their role in it. And the only way to gain that understanding is to roll up one's sleeve and get dirty.
Volunteerism opportunities are usually fairly easy to find, if one takes the initiative, but this year they're even more visible. Blame the same economic forces that forced school district to hack their summer schedules.
"These agencies are losing paid staff, definitely, but the demand for their services has been more than it's ever been," said Brenda Ratliff, executive director of the Volunteer Center in Bakersfield. "When economic times turn hard, you've got more people who need service and fewer people people to serve them. So, of course we need volunteers."
The Volunteer Center, which is affiliated with a number of organizations including the United Way, has a tough time placing kids under age 16, but older students are in demand.
Once they're registered, potential teen volunteers can learn about opportunities with a mass e-mailing known as "e-Blast." (Sign up at www.volunteercenter.info.) Last month, an e-Blast helped assemble dozens of teens for a one-day project building a Delano playground.
CALM, the SPCA, the Bakersfield Homeless Center, Boys & Girls Club -- all have occasional volunteer needs.
The tradeoff is a good one. Nonprofits get the help they need, students get beefier college application letters, real-world experience, leadership skills (a well-documented side benefit) and, if they perform well enough, additional letters of recommendation for that college app.
"And it shows they're willing to take initiative," Mendiola said. "It's not just about the hours, it's about the quality of their service. And when they're applying for scholarships, it allows them to get support from the people they worked for."
No doubt many students will lose a little momentum by missing out on summer school, but the opportunity for community service more than makes up for it.
Plus, parents, it gets them off the couch.
E-mail Robert Price at rprice@bakersfield.com. He's also at www.stubblebuzz.com and twitter.com/stubblebuzz.
