College-bound students can often be found volunteering their precious weekends at various community service opportunities. The online organization, dosomething.org, helps teens get connected to such opportunities. According to a recent study by the organization, colleges are increasingly looking for “long-term commitment[s] to a cause or an organization” when it comes to admissions standards. While colleges have long been emphasizing the important of community service, it seems even more crucial today considering how competitive college admissions has become.
There are many locations that are happy to give students an opportunity to volunteer for their community. Livingstone Community Development Corporation is a non-profit clinic that provides low income families access to healthcare. Many of its volunteers are high school students eagerly participating to accumulate credible community service hours in addition to helping out the less fortunate.
“I’m a part of Livingstone CDC because I want to contribute to society in some way,” said Matthew Jang, a 2nd year Livingstone volunteer. “Helping out teaches me how to collaborate and work with others effectively. I’m also looking forward to receiving the President’s Volunteer Service Award.” While the fundamental purpose of community service should be altruistic, many students initially get involved with the expectation of personal gain – amassing service hours that will help make their college application attractive in the admissions eyes.
“At first, most of the volunteers join in because they feel like they need to. But after some time, the volunteer hours for college really become secondary. You realize that there’s so much more to this world than our bubbles,” said Rachel Kim, a 3rd year volunteer. “I’ve already accumulated enough hours and I’ve even received an award for all the hours I put in. But it just doesn’t feel right to quit now. It’s become a regular thing for me on the weekends and it’s really rewarding to see what we can do as young high school students when we work together.”
Students like Rachel are likely to continue serving her community in the true spirit of community service, wherever she may be in her life’s journey. After volunteering for a while, it can change one’s thought in serving the society. While the initial motive may be both an opportunistic and benevolent combination for many students, the experience produces a worthy effort and newfound perspective. There can’t be anything wrong with that.
