You are a high school student in Woodbridge. You need to perform 40 hours of community service to graduate. Your options are bad.

Sigh. If only there were a way to get volunteer hours for tutoring something you are good at. Like Facebook!

Well, someone is. Her name is Margie Singleton, chief executive officer of the Vaughan Public Libraries.

Singleton has approved a program, to begin at Woodbridge Library by November, that will offer students volunteer credit to teach senior citizens to use Facebook, MySpace, Flickr, and other web applications.

The computer instruction is a means, not an end, Singleton said: The primary goal of “Beyond the Basics,” proposed by Woodbridge librarian Bekah Snell, is to encourage meaningful interaction between the young and the old. All the teaching will be conducted on a one-on-one basis.

“This is intergenerational communication. It’s very significant,” Singleton said. “The teenagers could shovel their walk; I think it’s more important they sit and talk to the seniors than to shovel their walk, myself. It benefits both parties.”

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