In order to graduate, seniors must complete 20 volunteer hours by April 21. With social distancing in place, and the deadline coming up with only 14 weeks left, opportunities have been difficult to find. In order to help people in the same situation, we’ve found some ways for students where they can get their service hours.

Listed under the Amador Valley College and Career Center page, are links to websites, such as VolunteerMatch. Isabelle Lai, a senior at Amador Valley, used this website to help her discover various organizations.

“This website helped me search and filter out different volunteering options to help me find organizations I had an interest in, and I was easily able to connect with them by putting in my email and sending out a request. There are also lots of websites that can help volunteers connect with different types of organizations if you have a specific interest in a subject or cause,” said Lai (‘21).

Students can also use a pre-approved list of organizations, which can be found under the Senior Class Info page on the school website.

“It is a convenient way to learn about different types of opportunities and it is easy to get started,” said Lai (21’).

AVHS is also constantly on the lookout for potential openings, with Ms. Conde, the vice-principal at Amador, often keeping students up-to-date. Aside from school-given resources, social media platforms can be helpful as well.

“Students should keep up with emails Ms. Conde sends because they are super helpful in finding places to complete your senior service hours… [use] social media to stay in touch with students in a group chat or single platform dedicated to helping others find volunteering opportunities,” said Shruthi Parasa (‘21).

Because most organizations have switched to virtual volunteers, opportunities have become easier to seek out as well.

“I finished my volunteering hours during the lockdown. And it wasn’t hard for me to get hours because of the online opportunities. I finished all my 20 hours,” said Parasa (‘21).