Seniors’ Community Hours Not Required

At Joliet Central it is required to have 40 hours of community service to graduate.  With the outbreak of COVID-19 in late March the requirements have changed.  We’re not allowed into places without masks, a lot of businesses have been put out of business, and schools have closed and switched to e-learning.  With social distancing in place and the amount of people limited in a small area at a time it’s hard to do community service with the limited amount of resources available.  While students and parents are trying to adjust to e-learning, school districts have eased up on graduation requirements considering the pandemic has made enormous changes to our day to day lives.  This applies to community service hour requirements.  Instead of students going to different places and volunteering their time to collect hours, this year students’ hours are being waved.  With one requirement being waived, it brought up a new requirement.  In order to graduate all seniors must complete a FAFSA application, a free application for student aid.  All students are required to fill this out because hours are not mandatory. This will act as the students hours for their graduation requirements and college applications.