What is Volunteer For Good (VFG)?
-Volunteer for Good is Utah’s statewide initiative that engages high school students in meaningful community service. This program is designed to help students grow, lead, and thrive by making a positive impact in their communities. Through this program, students:
- Gain real‑world experience
- Boost academic success
- Strengthen civic engagement
- Build social connections
- Support mental wellbeing
-Faculty and staff can request events to be posted on the Cottonwood Serves site here (Google Form).
How Can VFG Help Me?
-Get recognition for the service you already do! Students can earn a certificate, graduation cord, and/or a medallion by logging a certain number of service hours.
-Earn CPA hours! This is a graduation requirement.
- 1 hour of service = 1 CPA hour
- Students graduating in 2026 must have a CPA of a 2.0 or higher to walk at graduation.
- You can earn CPA points by volunteering if you do not have a 2.0 or higher CPA. Please see your counselor and sign up for volunteer opportunities in the main office.
- Students graduating in 2027 and subsequent classes must have a 3.0 or higher to walk at graduation.
What Counts as Service?
-VFG broadly defines service as anything done in your school/home/community that you are NOT getting paid for and NOT receiving a grade for. VFG only considers service done within the state of Utah.
- Still don’t know what counts? See examples of valid service here (PDF)
- Need ideas of where to volunteer at? See local organizations here (Google Spreadsheet)
How Do I Log Hours?
-Go to the Cottonwood Serves site.
- Browse the available opportunities, and find the one you’d like to participate in
- Click on the opportunity, and then click “Sign Up”
-Navigate to the “My Opportunities” tab.
- Find the opportunity that you completed, and click the yellow “Log Time” button
-Complete the form.
- Dates and times can be left blank
- Describe what you did to earn hours under the “Notes” section
- Write a brief paragraph reflecting on your experience under the “Reflection” section
-Save and submit the form.
- Click “Save” once you have completed the form
- If needed, upload an image or supporting document to verify your participation
-Still lost? View a visual step-by-step here (PDF).
How Do I Earn A Certificate/Cord/Medallion?
-Earn a Certificate of Service by completing 25 hours of service during each year of high school. Make sure to log your hours by May 1st of each school year. Students can earn up to 4 certificates!
- The 2024-2025 school year had a requirement of only 15 hours of service
-Earn a Service Cord by logging 100+ hours by May 1st of your graduation year.
- Since the 2024-2025 school year had a requirement of only 15 hours, the class of 2026 need 40 hours, 2027 need 65 hours, and 2028 need 90 hours
-Earn a Graduation Medallion by finishing a 40-hour, school-approved service project that makes a meaningful and lasting impact on your local community. Alternatively, if you have 200+ hours of service, you can submit a reflection detailing the impact of that service. For both routes, students are required to do the following:
- Meet with Volunteer for Good leaders to get approval
- For those doing the 40-hour project, fill out the Application (Google Form) for approval by the VFG team. All projects must be approved by February 20th
- The VFG leaders at Cottonwood are Drew Castleberry and Teresa Olsen, both located in the Counseling Center
- Log all service hours by May 1st of your graduation year
- Fill out the Reflection (Google Form) by May 1st of your graduation year
Schedule an appointment with Drew if you need help or have any additional questions about VFG.
