The number of hours you need depends on your award level. Florida Academic Scholars (FAS) need 100 hours and Florida Medallion Scholars (FMS) need 75 hours if the hours are volunteer service only. See the Bright Futures Eligibility page for the full requirements, including how the total changes if any paid work hours are mixed in.
Step by step
- Talk to your counselor and get your service plan approved before you begin, if your school requires it.
- Complete your hours at an eligible nonprofit, school, or government agency. You can start as early as the summer before you enter 9th grade.
- Record every session on the official Verification of Community Service form with dates, hours, a description, and your verifier's signature and phone number.
- Write a brief reflection if your award or school asks for one.
- Turn in your completed, signed, original (not photocopied) form to your school counselor before your graduation date — Bright Futures will not accept hours submitted after graduation. Keep a copy for yourself first.
Documenting each entry
- Itemize every date of service separately, even if the hours were all for one ongoing project. One combined line for multiple dates is not acceptable.
- Write the date as MM/DD/YYYY.
- Hours approved cannot exceed 12 hours in a single day without prior approval from your school counselor.
- Each entry needs a verifier's signature and phone number. As an alternative, attach an original letter on the organization's letterhead that includes the dates, total hours, and an itemized breakdown by date, signed by the organization — write "see attached" on the form instead of a signature.
- Your verifier must be an adult who is not a relative or step-family member.
- Per the Bright Futures Student Handbook, the completed form must be signed by three people: the student, the student's parent or guardian, and a representative of the organization where the hours were performed.
- Every entry must be complete and legible. This is a permanent record DCPS keeps in your cumulative folder.
Hours that do NOT count
- Family-related activities or service to family members.
- Hours that are paid or otherwise compensated. (Logging paid hours instead? See our Paid Work Hours Log.)
- Hours tied to a school activity where grades, extra credit, or awards are involved, including athletics.
- Court-adjudicated service hours.
- Service for the sole benefit of a house of worship or its congregation. Community-facing activities such a place of worship sponsors may still count — a soup kitchen, community cleanup, a health fair, a community dance or festival, or clerical support for a social service program.
- Volunteer work meant to promote a particular religious or political point of view.
- Donations, such as blood donation or Locks of Love.
- Hosting or housing a foreign exchange student.
Where to get your forms
Forms are provided by the Mandarin school counseling office. If you are unsure whether an activity qualifies, ask your counselor before you start.
Tip: Log hours as you go instead of all at once. It is much easier to collect signatures right after you volunteer than months later.
Sources: Duval County Public Schools "Verification of Community Service (Florida Bright Futures Program)" form and Bright Futures Community Service Guidelines; Florida Bright Futures Student Handbook; Mandarin High School School Counseling.