Each day, hundreds of thousands of students from all across the country make the decision to serve their communities, helping those less fortunate, enriching their local surroundings, or organizing others to take action as service. They selflessly take initiative to help those around them, practicing empathy to learn about issues facing not just their immediate surroundings, but also the world around them.

Colleges believe that students who perform service in their communities demonstrate commitment, self-motivation, and collaboration — all qualities that indicate that they are more likely to contribute to their campus community during college. That’s why colleges on Raise Me award students for their community service achievements during high school — students can earn as much as $7,500 in micro-scholarships towards tuition for community service performed over the course of their high school years.

Introducing Raise Me’s #12DaysOfKindness

To recognize and celebrate the community service contributions of Raise Me students across the country, Raise Me is celebrating “12 Days of Kindness” as we head into the holiday season. Everyday, beginning today until December 22, we’ll feature a new student who has made a profound impact in their communities.

Check out our student features here, including:

• Day 1: Yael S., a senior from Miami, FL who has spent time caring for zoo animals at her local zoo.
• Day 2: Andrew C., a senior from Shelton, CT who sells local handcrafted jewelry to benefit Nicaraguan communities in need

Community Service on Raise Me: By The Numbers

The team at Raise Me also took a look back at the impact that students on Raise Me have made on their own communities, on a local, national, and global level. Here’s what we found:

• Students on Raise Me have earned a total of almost $95 million towards community service micro-scholarships on Raise Me
• Almost 19.4 million community service hours have been logged by students on Raise Me
• The average number of service hours students on Raise Me have logged range from 42 (among freshmen in the class of 2022) to 115 (among seniors in the class of 2019).
• Students on Raise Me have earned over 375,000 micro-scholarships for their community service on Raise Me.

States With The Most Compassionate High School Students

As part of our campaign, we were curious: are students in certain states privy to unique opportunities to serve their communities? Are students in certain areas more likely to perform acts of service in their community? Based on an analysis of total community service events reported on students’ Raise Me portfolios across the country, we sought to discover the states where students in the country were the most active in community service. Analyzing the total average community service hours logged per student in the state, our data indicated:

The most compassionate high school students in the country come from Florida

Among all of the students registered to Raise Me, we found that students in Florida have performed the most community service (an average of 34 hours per student) compared to students in any other states.

Here’s a look at which states made the top 10:

The Most Compassionate High School Students In America, Ranked By State

1. Florida
2. Vermont
3. Connecticut
4. Washington
5. Maryland
6. Kentucky
7. New Hampshire
8. Massachusetts
9. Hawaii
10. Oregon

Scroll through the images below to learn more about community service among students in each state that made the rankings.

Interested in following along our #12DaysOfKindness campaign? Check out our Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook channels for more fun tidbits about ways that students on Raise Me have practiced kindness and compassion this holiday season.

Want to spread kindness to peers by making sure they can earn micro-scholarships for their outstanding community service achievements? It’s easy – just login to your Raise Me portfolio and click on the green heart in the upper-right hand corner.

Want to spread kindness to your peers and share the gift of micro-scholarships with your friends for their community service contributions? You can earn $100 in micro-scholarships yourself for every friend that joins Raise Me. It’s easy – just log in to Raise Me and click on the green heart in the upper-right hand corner of your portfolio to help your friends earn micro-scholarships today.