Service Learning Philosophy

As an IB World School, our mission at Langston Hughes includes inspiring, enabling, and empowering students to meet high academic standards, lead ethical lives, and demonstrate responsible citizenship in a global community. As part of this mission, we recognize the importance of service as action and support our students in engaging in service with their local and global communities. Through service, students are provided opportunities to explore their community, gain personal insight, develop new and existing skills, grow their confidence and responsibility, and become actors in the ‘real world’ beyond school.

To emphasize the importance of this, Langston Hughes Middle School expects students to complete a minimum of 15 hours of community service by May of their 8th grade year.

How do we keep track of service hours?

Students keep track of and reflect on their hours of service through x2VOL – a website that students access through Naviance Student. 

Naviance Student is accessible through the link above or through Schoology. Students login to their Naviance accounts, then click x2VOL in the bottom right.

Along with logging hours of service, students must also include a brief reflection (3-5 sentences) describing the service completed/performed, how the service was selected, how it connects to something learned in a class, and an IB Learner Profile trait that was used or developed through the service.

How can my student find service opportunities?

Service opportunities are available in school, both within and outside of the classroom learning experience. Students may also participate in non-school related service activities.

Some examples of service in which many students already engage include:

• participating in or volunteering for a race that donates the proceeds to a charity
• volunteering time in the library or for teachers after school
• collecting items for food or clothing drives
• participating in an awareness campaign by writing letters or sending postcards to local officials

Students can also find service opportunities on x2VOL on the “Opportunities” page or through Volunteer Fairfax.