The Board of Education has a wonderful vocational service opportunity for all Rotarians.  It is the Recognition Diploma Senior Project.  At some high schools it is a voluntary project and at others it is compulsory for all high school seniors.

The short version of how the program works is: 

1)      The student selects an area of interest for career interests and goals. 

2)      They present a letter of intent to the school for approval. 

3)      They do research (a thesis paper) that describes the essential question. 

4)      They produce evidence that applies the knowledge gained during the research phase and may consult a community contact who serves as a subject matter expert. 

5)      They work with a community mentor on a longer term basis in the area related to the students goals. 

6)      They complete a service learning project that makes a visible impact in the school or community. 

7)      They may choose either a performance based project (music, dance, rewriting and performing a scene in a play, coaching a sport) or a problem based project (proposed legislation, scientific research) 

8)      They make a formal presentation to a Project Panel to showcase their research and accomplishments.

How can Rotarians help? 

1)      Serve as a Senior Project mentor. (15-30 hours over several months) 

2)      Serve on a Project Panel (2-4 hours, 1 day event)

How do we do that? 

1)      Go to http://helphawaiischools.com/seniorprojects 

2)      Click on “volunteer registration” 

3)      Agree to a background check.  This is nothing new for Rotarians.  It is required for all Rotarians involved in any youth activity. 

4)      Fill out the information 

5)      For “affiliations” check “service club”. 

6)      Under “if your organization is listed” check “Rotary” 

You can specify any school, any area of interest, any time that you are available.  It is really easy to help at your own pace.  Once you have registered you can also use this web site to search for opportunities.