“Ten more service hours left to fill out on MobileServe, and I only have one week of school left!” Sophomores roam the halls, scrambling to finalize their last community service hours for Lick-Wilmerding High School’s Center for Civic Engagement’s Public Purpose Program (PPP) requirement. What are some ways to ensure this is not the case for sophomores this year?
Here is a guide to PPP hours at LWHS.
Sophomores are required to complete 40 hours of community service by the end of their academic school year. These hours are all logged on an application called MobileServe. According to Director of the PPP, Ravi Lau ’92, this requirement is to motivate sophomores to complete PPP hours. However, the focus is not on the actual amount of hours. “[The sophomores] don’t have to worry about the hours because [they] found something that is important, meaningful and purposeful for [them],” said Lau. This year, Lau’s focus is to have sophomores shift from a mindset of “what counts as hours” to “what is impactful.” Kenzo Yanni Velasquez ’15, Senior Associate for the Center for Civic Engagement, recommends sophomores start with something they are curious about or interested in. Velasquez wants sophomores to know that volunteering can feel both fulfilling to themselves and the community they are working with. Sophomores are all starting out at different levels of experience in volunteering and active community engagement through service. Some sophomores might want to volunteer at former middle schools or communities that they either are actively participating in or have volunteered with in the past. While curiosity can still blossom in familiar volunteer opportunities, Lau also wants them to push themselves past what they are already comfortable with. “It’s an opportunity to go beyond what is familiar and to meet a new community,” he said. Researching different organizations is one of the most important steps in finding PPP hours. Lau sends an extensive guide at the beginning of the year to sophomores at LWHS which encompasses several search engines explicitly designed for finding volunteer opportunities.
These search engines include:
General SF Volunteer Opps
Together SF Volunteer Calendar
Hands On Bay Area Volunteer Calendar
Oakland/East Bay Volunteer Opportunities
SF Rec and Park Volunteer Calendar
The Center Blog is not only an extremely useful tool to locate internships, scholarships and events, but also helps students find volunteer opportunities. New opportunities that fulfill PPP hour requirements are frequently posted on the blog, alongside a calendar view of upcoming events and volunteer options. Sophomores have the option to subscribe to the blog and get email notifications on new and upcoming volunteer opportunities.
photo by Jack Mireles
Velasquez suggests publicizing and advertising these opportunities through the Center Blog, as they are often created and run by students. “It’s as simple as sending me an email with all logistical details and flyers, and I could get that up on the same day,” he said. The Center’s PPP Interns also play a crucial role throughout the sophomore PPP process. Interns Taylor Koo ’26, Sanya Sohal ’26, Aidan Baird ’25 and Ernesto Duran ’25 use their experience in volunteering and their student perspectives to better PPP. They connect sophomores and PPP, as well as design and send out surveys to get a better understanding of where sophomores are at in completing their PPP hours.
MobileServe also posts PPP volunteer opportunities for the designated PPP days throughout the school year. These are half days that are placed into the school schedule, specifically designed to give time to volunteering. Baird said that he completed all of his hours by monitoring the MobileServe notifications to sign up for opportunities. With that, he wants to work on bringing more opportunities to MobileServe. “This way, sophomores can have a wider range of activities that they might want to sign up for,” he said.
As the end of the first semester approaches, utilizing the tools that the Center provides is crucial. Every sophomore’s approach to the completion of PPP hours is different but having this toolset for approaching PPP is always at their disposal.
