Smithson Valley High senior Katie Kirk wears the green and silver SVHS Service Cord. She earned the cord by performing 583 community service hours during her four-year high school career.

Nearly 10 years ago, Jake Smith fell asleep for the second straight day in Smithson Valley High teacher Cricket Ingraham’s classroom.

It may have been the most productive catnap in high school history.

Ingraham woke Smith up on that day during the 1998-99 school year, and asked him what his excuse was for sleeping in her classroom.

It turned out to be a pretty good one.

Smith, a senior, explained to Ingraham he had been on duty as a volunteer firefighter the previous two nights fighting a grass and house fire.

Instead of sending Smith to detention, Ingraham started thinking.

“I thought to myself, here’s a kid who’s an above-average student, who is doing a great service to his community as a volunteer firefighter,” Ingra-ham said. “But when we have graduation in a few months, no one will really know what this student has accomplished because he won’t be recognized in any special way.”

So Ingraham went to assistant principal Jo Beth Jimerson’s office and told her about this dilemma that was now tugging on her conscious.

Within 20 minutes, Ingra-ham and Jimerson hatched what became the SVHS Service Cord program.

Its purpose is to recognize students who engage in a high level of service to the community by awarding a service cord to be worn during the senior graduation ceremony.

“We just wanted to give kids who were serving their community and their school some recognition,” said Jimerson, now the principal at Spring Branch Middle. “They might be at the top of their class academically, or they might not, but we felt the kind of values they possess should be rewarded.”

SVHS students must average 40 community service hours per year, and wind up with a total of 160 hours before graduation to earn the Service Cord.

They can’t receive any form of payment for these services, and each hour submitted is reviewed for verification.

Through the years, students have volunteered at places like the Humane Society, senior citizen’s homes, children’s hospitals and at Camp CAMP, a summer getaway for handicapped children.

“It just gives me chills to think about all the good that’s come from this program,” said Jimerson, who recently started a mini-version of the Service Cord program at Spring Branch Middle School. “All we hear about is the bad stuff on the 10 o’clock news. It’s nice to know there are so many great things happening behind the scenes because of this.”

Ingraham estimates more than 400 SVHS students, including 39 this year, have earned the Service Cord since graduation day in 1999.

Many students go far above and beyond what’s required of them to graduate with a Service Cord. Breanna Smith will finish high school with 624 community service hours, the highest number from this year’s SVHS seniors.

“This program has been virtually unchanged since Jo Beth and I started it with that 20-minute conversation,” Ingraham said. “Our students have done so many different things throughout the years to benefit others. The generosity young people are capable of never ceases to amaze me.”

Smithson Valley High senior Rachel Ragland earned 177 credit hours during her four years at SVHS and will have the silver and green Service Cord draped around her neck when she walks across the stage at graduation on May 31.

“I feel like I really accomplished something,” said Ragland, who will attend Texas State University and hopes to become a teacher. “I’m so glad I was able to help so many people. I’ve even thought about starting up the same kind of program when I become a teacher.”

SVHS Principal Chris Trotter said the Service Cord program has many great benefits.

“It’s just a great way for kids to become involved in the community,” Trotter said. “It gives them appreciation for what they have and for what others don’t.”

Kristy Dowd, a SVHS sophomore who’s well on her way to earning a Service Cord, said she sees the world differently now that she’s become a volunteer.

“You learn that there’s so many things you can do to help others, things you may might not have thought about before,” Dowd said. “I absolutely would recommend this program to any student looking to start something worthwhile because I really feel we’re making a difference in people’s lives.”