Waukee’s Reduced Silver Cord Hours

As we enter the 2024-2025 school year, changes arise in the Waukee Community School District. Recently, the number of service hours was reduced by twenty-five hours. Before, it was a hundred and seventy-five hours to receive a cord now a hundred and fifty. The Silver Cord program focuses on community service for high school students. The program drives students to volunteer in the Waukee area as they are recognized by a silver cord at graduation. You can begin volunteering in June, the first of freshman year. The Silver Cord website provides students with various volunteer opportunities ranging in many different areas such as music to animals. Once you’ve completed the work you can submit them on that same page. All hours must be submitted by April 15 of your senior year. Greatly, with the decrease of our, a good handful of Waukee students can receive the silver cord.

Kathleen O’Brien, the Silver Cord Program supervisor stated that the hours were lowered to align with the other Silver Cord Programs. Waukee was twenty-five hours higher than other schools surrounding us. O’Brien said, “I hope that more students will finish their hours as it benefits both the students and the non-profit organizations.” The majority of seniors were extremely close to reaching the needed hours for a silver cord. O’Brien encourages students to partake in finishing their progress now that the hours have decreased. Remarkably, this year’s graduating class has more participants in silver cord than the previous class. 

Silver Cord may not be ideal for an average high school student juggling school, sports, a job, and even more. A simple hour out of your day makes a difference, regardless of the number of hours you may need for Silver Cord. Setting aside a day for volunteering out of your week is beneficial. 

Senior, Izabella Arndt has a regular volunteer job, “for me–Volunteering is handled like an extracurricular activity, that I make a priority in my schedule.” Silver Cord may be seen as just counting the hours and getting a cord, but it’s the serving aspect. Despite meeting the Silver Cord requirements Izabella continues to prioritize meeting the community’s needs. Arndt states “I do believe it’s very possible the lower hours level could encourage more of us to get into the program and volunteer.” Izabella encourages all teens to set aside time to serve. “I think it’s more important than ever for youth to volunteer, as it positively impacts our mental health, nurtures and increases our level of empathy, and forces a face-to-face connection with our community.” Positive mental health comes with volunteering, all while serving the Waukee area.

Junior Hayden Beyer has completed her hours. When asked about her opinion on the decreased hours Beyer exclaimed “It doesn’t bother me that the hours got lowered, I don’t think any time was “wasted” because I still volunteer even though I already hit the hours.” Most students volunteer once their hours are complete, it’s giving back to the community and working together to make things work. 

Silver Cord is a program that encourages students to give up their time to help people and better their community. So whether the required hours are 175 or 150, it’s important to remember that volunteering should come out of kindness, not just a desire to get a cord at graduation.

Photo courtesy of Izabella Arndt