Community service for many students may seem like an obligation to graduate high school or a way to look good when applications are sent to colleges. Not many see the benefits of volunteering, or helping out their community.

The benefits of volunteering are not only looking good on your college transcripts. There are other benefits such as learning about future job opportunities while having an impact on your community

Volunteering or doing a fundraiser can be turned into something fun for everyone. Going out and helping others can help you become more social and help with self-confidence.

Many students see volunteering as not interesting. “I would volunteer or join more clubs if most of my friends were in that same club, or if it were easier for me to interact with people,” stated Junior Christine Choi as her reason why she doesn’t get involved in the activities at West.

Volunteering doesn’t have to be something done on your own; volunteering can be a group contribution, something you can do with other students to help to get to know each other. Volunteering can also be done with your friends so you can share a memory together.

Barriers to Volunteering

Volunteering and high school students come from two opposite sides, it’s like a wall formed between the two, waiting for high school students to find a way to get to their volunteering hours.

Seniors in their last year of high school are stressing over whether they have enough credits to graduate, or if their community hours are caught up. Being in a rush to get all their hours done, they choose to volunteer at places where they will get enough hours and they don’t choose to volunteer at places that interest them and something they will enjoy.

Another reason why students don’t get to their volunteer hours is because they have things to do after school for example sport practices, music rehearsals, after school help. These priorities grab the student’s time.

Volunteering for most students is an obligation. “I volunteer because I’m in Honor Society and I need to get my hours done. If it were up to me, even if I wanted to I wouldn’t have the time to,” said Senior Valerie Chavez.

According to student.scdu.edu, the number of volunteers between 13 and 18 years old have decreased since 1980. This is because students don’t want to go out and volunteer, and they can’t find time in their schedules. The number of teenage volunteers is one of the lowest compared to other age groups.

Students who volunteer shouldn’t get stressed out. They should find ways to get their hours done in their free time.With as little as an hour or 30 minutes, a teenager can make an impact on the comunity.

Opportunities At West

During homeroom, announcements are made to share information about events that are coming up for students to sign up and volunteer. The problem is that students don’t rush to sign up. It might be that students just are not interested in these opportunities – so what do we do to make it fun and interesting for high school students to volunteer?

During these announcements, students do not get quiet, or pay close attention to what is being said. The only announcements that at least 50% of the students listen to and pay really close attention to are related to sports.

This can change by talking to students during homeroom to come up with ideas on how to get more students involved in school and things that would be interesting to the students at West.

The Rotary Club is one group that is trying to engage more students. They have done fundraisers to help people in other parts of the world, including raising over $140 as part of trick or treat for UNICEF to help provide vaccines for children in Africa.

When volunteering, students should volunteer at places they are interested in and that will help them learn something and that helps others too. One such place to volunteer is the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. At CHOP, “the volunteers who donate their time play an important role in the experience of our patients and their families” according to www.chop.edu.

Students shouldn’t see volunteering as an obligation because there are many things out there for everybody. Through volunteering you can learn new things. Volunteering can be enjoyable for you and the people around you. You shouldn’t see it as an obligation, but something you are doing to help others while helping yourself.