DECATUR - Ben Mize already has enough service learning hours logged for his entire high school requirement, and he's still a sophomore at Eisenhower High School.

Mize volunteered to work on The Scream, the haunted house used to raise money to help Decatur Celebration, and he's got 80 volunteer hours in that project.

Decatur's school board approved service learning as a graduation requirement in June. High school students are required to do 24 hours of community service, beginning with this year's freshmen. Sophomores are required to perform 18 hours, juniors 12 hours and seniors six hours.

Many students are like Mize and would volunteer even if it weren't a requirement. The Scream was fun, he said, and something he planned to do anyway.

Elizabeth Kerper's volunteer work is similar. She volunteered for Democratic headquarters during the presidential campaign, making phone calls and stuffing envelopes.

"We put together walk lists for people going door to door," said Kerper, a senior. "It was interesting to see how the political system works and grass-roots politics."

Classmate Kerry Lee worked on the campaign, too. Neither girl is old enough to vote, but their government class teacher gave them the suggestion. Lee also works at Scovill Zoo, something she already was doing because she enjoys it, but those hours count toward the service learning requirement as well.

"I helped out at Boo at the Zoo," she said. "I've just been around the zoo forever."

National Honor Society students are required to perform community service, too, Kerper said, and the extra hours to fulfill the graduation requirement don't make that much difference.

"It wasn't that hard to work in, especially if you don't do it all at one time," Lee said. "If you do it in smaller amounts, it doesn't take up as much time."

Another student who worked on the election is Jamarius Jelks, and he is old enough to vote, so for him it took on even more personal importance. He said the chance to meet a cross-section of voters from all walks of life gave him a real sense of the diversity of the Decatur area.

Students log their volunteer hours, and someone on the service site confirms that they did the work. Then students turn that paperwork in to their counselors.

Most students are on track to meet their requirement, said Christine Ossowski, a college and career counselor at Eisenhower. To help students get the necessary hours, she plans to hold a volunteer day while the juniors are taking the Prairie State Achievement Exam in the spring, which will allow students to get all their year's allotment of hours done in one day. Now that the word is out about students needing volunteer opportunities, she said, she's getting several calls from organizations that could use their help.

One thing she hopes she doesn't have to do is nag. Some students may not realize they're short on hours until it's down to the wire.

"I need to talk to our midyear graduates," she said.

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