LOWELL -- Since 2009, students at Lowell Catholic High School have been required to do at least 100 hours of community service before graduating.

Forty percent of Lowell Catholic students graduate with commended service, meaning they completed 180 hours or more. Some complete over 200 hours. A few make it to 500. Senior Deborah Kibuuka has completed 1,200 hours of community service since freshman year.

"It was very hard, I'm not going to lie to you," she said.

At first, the community service hours were merely a box for her to check before graduating. Her mindset was to get in, do the work, and get out. She didn't expect that those hours would change her. In the summer between freshman and sophomore years, she spent six hours a day volunteering at Place of Promise, a Christian childcare provider in Lowell. Many of the kids there came from "rough backgrounds" and didn't want to go home when the day was done.

"They liked staying there because we treated the kids as if this is like their home," she said. "So they always come in every day excited."

They reminded her of herself at that age.

"I learned to grow and love the children I'm working with," she said. "People think you can't learn from a seven-year-old or an eight-year-old, but you can because you can use some of their good behavior to yourself as well, and model that behavior."

She also helped out at the Salvation Army and went on mission trips.

"My mindset from freshman year to senior year has changed," she said. "When I got to know more of the kids, when I got to know more of my other people, I got to see the importance of volunteering and helping out the community. Because if you don't do it, I don't think anyone else will."

Lowell Catholic has almost 700 students from pre-K to eighth grade. This year's graduating class consists of 68 seniors. Head of School Maryellen DeMarco sees them go from restless freshmen to young men and women who have "fallen in love with helping people."

"Once they begin the process of doing some community service as freshmen and sophomores, they begin to see that their actions and their service really help put a smile on people's faces," she said. "They fall in love with the service of God, is what they're doing. They're trying to create something bigger than themselves."

Seniors spend one week of school off campus, racking up community service hours. They are required to create a "Mark the World" presentation and go before Lowell Catholic's administrators, board members, and faculty to explain what impact their service had on them and the community.

"It's pretty incredible," DeMarco said. "I sometimes have to grab tissues."

Many seniors choose to attend colleges where they can continue doing community service.

"They not only do really well academically, they know how to be good people and give back," DeMarco said. "So, at the end of the day, our students leave here smart, competent, and ready to give back and to serve others."

Seniors and twin brothers Xavier and Stephen Smay have 340 hours of community service between them. When Stephen entered ninth grade and found out he had to complete 100 hours of service, he wasn't intimidated. Both of his parents are in the military, so he was used to performing acts of service. For Xavier, however, 100 hours initially felt like a burden.

"As I did it, I learned that I actually really enjoyed doing it, and so I started looking for ways to give back to the community because I enjoyed doing it so much," he said.

Xavier went on a mission retreat with Repair and Replenish, which took him to an animal rescue farm in Mississippi. He built cages for wounded birds of prey living there. As the cages went up, he saw the difference he was making. The farm was home to raccoons, tortoises, and countless cats. Once, while trying to coax a raccoon down from a tree, it landed in his friend's hair. Much of Xavier's community service was spent at St. Paul's Soup Kitchen in Lowell. He helped his mother collect food at St. Matthew the Evangelist Parish in Billerica, drive it to St. Paul's, and serve it to those in need.

"I found it to be an eye-opening experience," he said. "I had never really been close to anyone that was that in need of help.''

"They were forced there because they didn't have any other options, and they needed something to help them get back up on their feet. And I really enjoyed helping them stand back up," he added.

Stephen also volunteered at St. Paul's.

"To be there, having them just a table length across, for me, was a bit eye-opening, and to see what conditions they were in and everything was eye-opening," he said.

He also helped out at open houses and accepted student nights at Lowell Catholic. His role was to tell the soon-to-be freshmen what to expect, and "show them the way." After he graduates from college, he wants to be a history teacher at a private high school and "be involved with everything that they have."

"The retreats, the school trips," he said. "I want to coach. I want to help them out on their service projects."

He wants to do it all because he knows what it's like to be in those students' place.