How do I keep track of my community service hours, if my school doesn't?

I agree with @KidfromSeattle, meaning that any middle school hours don't count. If you keep track of them on a google doc, calendar, etc, you can stay organized. That being said, stay on top of it, and check to make sure your high school doesn't require volunteer hours to graduate:if they do, then have the neccessary reference and hours to graduate. In general, relating to the college process and not, the school will not keep track of much for you. If it's grades, community service hours, scores, accomplishments, etc, you generally need to keep it organized. Not sure what grade you're in, but at the end of the day, you are going to be in charge of yourself throughout the college process. Guidance counselors help, but they aren't paid like a college counselors: so they won't go above and beyond, like by tracking your community service hours.

In terms of community service to put on your application to college, hours done in middle school typically don’t count.

As for keeping track, start charting your volunteer hours. You can use a calendar or create on, and log the hours, dates, and organization you were volunteering for. Services such as Evernote and Notion have these types of features. Also, for future reference, don’t expect organizations you volunteer for to log your hours. Most won’t.

Hope this helped. Let me know if you have any questions.

Honestly, tracking is only half of the equation. Colleges (and don't forget employers) want to know that they can rely on the volunteer hours on your application. So do what you can to get proof. That can come in many forms. For example, get a letter of recommendation. Or, if you have volunteered a significant amount of time, see if you can qualify for an award such as the President's Volunteer Service Award.

hey, you could keep up a note of your invested timing and calculate an average of it by the end of the work.