The International Baccalaureate Career Related Program, better known as IBCP, is a two year program beginning in your junior year of high school. This program is designed to help students develop career related skills for lifelong learning. Within IBCP you cover many different outlines on important skills, one being community service hours. 

Personal and Professional Skills teacher Basilis Gianettos said that all IBCP students are required to have 50 contact hours of service learning. The CP program translates this into six service learning experiences. IB recognizes that learning does not only occur within the four walls of a classroom.  

The community service hours are important because they teach students how to give back to their community. “It is imperative that students engage in service learning experiences, because through service students help others but also themselves,” said Gianettos.

The work going into these hours are not only engaging but also a lesson. “The service learning hours allow for students to learn new skills and gain valuable experiences that allow you to give back to your community,” said Taft senior Larisa Cukovic. 

Taft senior Iris Garcia adds onto this statement by saying, “Community service hours help develop many different skills that benefit you in the future.” These hours allow you to build skills beyond your career path that show you what it will be like in the real world. 

Students have many opportunities to get these hours in, “CP students document their service learning experiences during their senior year and may include experiences from their junior and senior year only. Students compile a four part service learning experience that includes: profile, experience, reflection, and evidence,” said Giannetos. Each section aims to build student engagement. 

Cukovic enjoys volunteering for community elementary schools. She does this by assisting students in ESL and with IEPs to achieve their academic goals. She has been able to improve her communication and problem solving skills by having to collaborate with other teachers and implementing positive reinforcement techniques.

These skills are able to improve her future plans of becoming a Physician because she will need to know how to communicate positively with other staff members. She will also need to be able to work around problems within her field and handle them accordingly. 

Garcia participates in after school events specifically within the drama department. By selling tickets for the plays or working in the concessions Garcia is building up her social skills. She has learned how to collaborate with the people around her and build leadership by taking up the IB opportunities like volunteering for presentations to younger classmen. 

By building up her leadership and collaboration skills she is also learning how to be principled and balanced. Garcia is going to college to become an Ultrasound Technician. The skills that she has gained from community service will allow her to take them into her future achieving her goals. 

Community service hours not only positively impact the students partaking in them but it also gives back to the community. These hours allow you to gain and work on skills that you might not realize you need and allow you to take them into your future.