Rethinking the 40-Hr Requirement

Youth researcher Claire Liu explores what motivates students to volunteer—and what barriers still stand in their way.

By Claire Liu

What is your connection to the organization, and why is it so important to you?

As a high schooler, the 40-hour requirement affects me. I never thought about it before, and when I learned about this research project, how the 40-hour requirement might affect other people, I started wondering is there an effect and I wanted to find out. So, I joined out of curiosity.

As well, my parents do not volunteer a lot, and I was wondering whether my experiences with volunteering were similar with other people's.

What have you most loved and appreciated about the work of the organization that you are involved in?

I like that it is getting taken seriously, we're all being treated with respect, and all our opinions are listened to. Research is a unique experience that I really don't get to experience in school, where everything is just graded assignments. The research that we do gets listened to and it's applicable to the real world - I think that was interesting.

As you reflect on the facilitators and barriers you uncovered around youth volunteer engagement and the 40-hour graduation requirement, what surprised you most—and why do you think it landed that way for you?

What surprised me the most, when it came to the results, was the most important things which made volunteering meaningful for youth was it fostered an increase in their connection to the community.

That surprised me because in my school a lot of people, that I'm around, volunteer for the sake of getting more experiences, or to help build their resume. I never considered the fact that volunteering also does help engage with the community. To me, this project has demonstrated that it does help connect people within the community.

What did this research help you see differently about youth, systems, or yourself that you hadn’t noticed before?

I wasn't as surprised, in terms of things that hinder youth from volunteering, because I have noticed a lot of them in my own life. It is difficult to find volunteer opportunities, especially if you have a particular field of interest.

The schools do not always help youth find suitable volunteer opportunities. As teenagers, most of the time we can't drive ourselves or rely on our parents. It made a lot of sense that the timing of the volunteering, and the location, was very important and significant barrier.

Given what you now understand, what feels most important to shift if meaningful change is going to occur?

I think more support from schools in general and more resources, or more individual guidance, is needed.

Overall, more communication between the teachers and the students, and overall showing that teachers do care about the students, and that they are concerned about our volunteering, such as, whether we are able to reach the 40-hour requirement.

At least, in my school, there is not a lot of communication between the guidance counselor and the students. Even though we know that we're supposed to go to the guidance counselors when we have questions, most of the time we do not reach out because we perceive they do not care about us, and it is a job to them. I think just demonstrating to students as a first step that guidance counselors do care and would like to help and reach out.

If the conditions were right, what do you sense youth actually need in order to engage in volunteering in ways that feel life-giving rather than obligatory?

From my own personal experience, a lot students in my school look for volunteering opportunities that are aligned with jobs that we want to do in the future.

If volunteering was perfect, then there would be diverse opportunities, where there are adults who give us guidance along the way and we don't get stuck with manual labor or easier tasks that don't give many new experiences.

That's what I would imagine: more diverse opportunities.

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Curated by Phillip McAllister

This post is part of a larger Youth Research Project in association with Volunteer Halton. The intent is to share the depth of volunteer opportunities available to youth, how community can support and imagine together what is possible through this meaningful learning experience. Collectively, this aims to ensure Halton is a healthy, inclusive and resilient place to live.

Click here to read the full report produced by the youth research team.

Watch a presentation of the report by the youth research team.