MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Less than a month from the deadline, 15 percent of Shelby County Tennessee Promise participants have completed their community service requirements.
That is lower than the statewide percentage, which shows about 25 percent of TN Promise participants have completed that requirement.
More than 31,500 students across the state need to fulfill the requirement to remain eligible for the scholarship.
TN Promise is a state scholarship program that offers students two years of community or technical college at no cost.
“I have completed the first four hours. I’m working on the second,” said TN Promise participant Hailey Johnson.
Johnson said she knows she needs to complete a total of eight community service hours and submit them accordingly.
Johnson opted to do a job shadow.
“I job shadowed my mom. She works in the Baptist Memorial Hospital,” Johnson said.
Johnson said she wants to be a nurse and still save her parents tuition costs for her first few years.
“We’ve had a lot of calls from parents and students that want to complete those hours,” said Andrew Bartolotta who does marketing and communications for Leadership Memphis.
Bartolotta said Leadership Memphis is working hard to help pair young people with volunteer opportunities in the community ahead of the deadline.
TN Promise Executive Director Mike Krause said the program is reaching out to parents and students nonstop, because students have already met other deadlines and completed paperwork.
Folks closer to home agreed Tuesday.
“It’s important that community service is part of the TN Promise scholarship, because it provides students a chance to really serve their community,” Bartolotta said.
TN Promise is hosting a TN Promise Service Saturday event July 18th at state parks to give student an opportunity to volunteer for clean-ups. There is more information about that available at TNachieves.org.
TN Achieves told WREG area community colleges will also offer service fairs or other opportunities July 11th.
Leadership Memphis invites students to visit volunteermemphis.org for other opportunities.
