Community service has been a longstanding APS prerequisite to graduate with a standard minimum of 75 hours. Students spend all of their high school lives building their service resume to impress colleges and finish high school. However, recently the switch from MyVoluntier to Tierspier has made receiving credit for these philanthropic works an ongoing battle for students.
This transition began in August and was a result of new administration for APS’s community service department. Fortunately, the platforms feature similar profiles which students have found convenient amidst this rocky conversion. Similarly to MyVoluntier, Tiersphere is accessed through myBackpack and logged in with students’ APS credentials. As for appearance, little has changed except for the location of applications such as the personal portal and support center. ‘’I wasn’t aware of the new platform until recently,‘’ said sophomore Edgar Pinedia-Bracamontes. ‘’They were so similar I didn’t even notice.’’
Most complications have stemmed from the new submission process. Tiersphere has meticulous standards for verifying hours which led to the new pre-approval form for non-verified organizations. Not only does this form request specific and potentially inaccessible information, such as organizations’ tax numbers, but it also must be completed and approved prior to finishing the service in order to be accounted for. Even logging hours through verified organizations has been a struggle. The previous form used for inputting hours has been backed up due to the designated position being unfilled until late September. Sophomore Elizabeth Adams has been grappling with this delay since August. ‘’I hope to see them in my account in the near future,’’ said Adams. ‘’I have been checking daily.’’
APS staff and community service admin have yet to provide a comprehensive breakdown for navigating this new process. While many assume that school-specific counselors handle all community service, this concern is out of their league. With confusion still unresolved, counselors have been unable to provide students with proper information on how to log hours. ‘’Counselors have been flooded by questions from students,’’ said counselor Marc Genwrite. ‘’We hope to receive further guidance from an APS representative next week to better assist students.’’
It’s evident that MyVoluntier’s farewell hasn’t been easy via its predecessor, Tiersphere. Although the platform is relatively easy to navigate, its major flaws relating to the transfer of service hours don’t go unnoticed by students. Despite this, there is faith that these issues will be addressed in the coming weeks through APS involvement.
