Manage Your Volunteer Hours or Extracurricular Activities

Requirements for graduation aren’t limited to the classes that you take.

Some high schools require you to complete a certain number of hours of volunteer work, community service or extracurricular activities in order to graduate.

In this video, you will add your volunteer hours or extracurricular activities to your spreadsheet.

If your high school does not require these activities, that’s okay.

Tracking the time you spend on them is still useful, in case you need to share this information later.

For example, a potential employer might want to know about your prior work experience when you are applying for a job.

Or, a college might want you to include your extracurricular activities on your application.

You might have helped a teacher manage a club, spent time with a local youth group, or raised funds for a community theater production.

Recording your activities in your spreadsheet will make any application process go more smoothly.

To manage this information, add a new sheet to your graduation spreadsheet.

Rename it.

Then, add column headings that describe what you did...

...when you did it, and how many hours you spent.

If someone supervised the activity and signed a form or letter verifying that you participated, add a heading for that information as well.

Also, wrap your text.

Wrapping allows you to shorten the text so it doesn’t overlap onto other cells.

Now, add the volunteer or extracurricular activities you have participated in already.

Also list the volunteer or extracurricular activities you plan to do in the future.

Wrap the text if it doesn’t fit in the cell.

Next, add the dates that you completed or expect to complete these activities.

Wrap the text.

Add the time you spent doing the activities you have already completed.

You won’t need the number of hours for extracurricular activities or teams, so leave this section blank.

Then, add proof that you participated in an activity to your spreadsheet.

If your school requires volunteer hours to graduate, it’s important to keep the proof of those hours where you can find it quickly.

Your school might provide you with a form that needs to be filled out and signed by the person or organization you did the work for.

Or, you could ask the volunteer supervisor for a letter to verify the hours you spent.

You could keep paper copies of the forms or letters in a file at home and use data validation to check off whether you have a signed form for each activity.

Or, add a new column heading for Volunteer Documents.

Then, copy the links to a digital volunteer form or document and paste it with the appropriate activity in your spreadsheet.

Keeping track of your forms or letters will help you show your school, an employer, or an organization when and where you gave your time.

And it will help you appear organized and professional! Now, it’s your turn: Create column headings in your spreadsheet, Add your volunteer or extracurricular activities, Add the time you spent, and Add proof you participated by linking a digital form or document.