Silver Cord has been offered to Des Moines Public Schools students since DMPS has been a school district. Silver Cord is a nationally recognized award for community service, you must earn a total of 160 hours to earn one at graduation. The Cord makes people feel like they had more of a purpose in high school other than just getting good grades. There are many different opportunities to volunteer. For example, Meals From the Heartland, Holiday Hullabaloo, and ALS Association, and so much more. Each opportunity is a chance to help the community.
Why should you try to get your silver cord hours before you graduate? It makes students feel good to do things for the community and it looks good on job resumes, and college applications. Having a cord would be something you can be proud of for the rest of your life and even if you join the Alumni Foundation one day it could be something to brag about when talking to former classmates.
East High School senior Melissa Perez started volunteering at the end of her sophomore year and finished her 160 hours by the end of her junior year, she even put in more hours as she went into her senior year. She now has 243 hours in total and is collecting even more before she graduates.
“It gives me a sense of helping the community and being a part of something,” Perez said. Since Perez is also in student government, she gets so many more hours just from that. You can earn hours at East by being a team manager or joining scarlet squad. Just by being in Student government you can earn up to 50 hours of silver cord hours and even more from other school activities like volunteering at swim meets. Silver cord not only benefits the community but also you, it makes you feel good about yourself for helping others around you. Even by doing the smallest thing to help your community it can boost your confidence. Madeline Cano recommends students get at least 40 silver cord hours a year to earn their cord at the end of their senior year. Cano believes in all of the Scarlets, but she wishes that more people would participate in getting that cord around their neck. “Good karma is a nice thing,” Cano said.
Outside of doing hours around the school, the opportunities outside of East are just as good. One that has already been done was tree planting. An opportunity you can get a lot of hours from is Meals From the Heartland, they have two-hour long meal packaging shifts that you can sign up for all week long and you can choose the shift hours that work for you.
“Looks so good on resumes and your applications,” Perez said. Colleges and jobs don’t want to see just good grades and your attendance, they want to see what you do for your community, which a silver cord can help with.  More colleges want to see that you can keep your grades up and keep your community the best way it can be, they want to see you succeed in more than a 3.5 GPA. Students will say they don’t think any of these matters, but it does, opportunities that people sign up for also make people think of East in a more positive way. Volunteering also doesn’t have to be done alone, your friends or family can volunteer with you to make it fun for everyone. Always encourage your friends and family to do all of this stuff with you, the more people that work the faster time goes by, so even if you don’t want to be there, making it fun might even make you feel like you’re only there in the blink of an eye. Are you wondering how you sign up for Silver Cord? Cano sends out all kinds of opportunities on Instagram and to student emails. There is also a website you can go to where you can see all of the places to choose from. The volunteer match database has filters so you can also find specific things you’re interested in so you can volunteer at places you find fun. It’s super easy to sign up, you just need your first and last name, phone number, email, and your address. Some places also have different shifts that may work for your schedule.  Most places do it in different months of the year, unless it is a seasonal place like a Santa’s workshop, it would happen within the months of November and December.