Volunteering has long been
considered a necessary and worthwhile activity in our society. Just as you
probably have, I have known many people who spend/spent countless hours
volunteering for many causes and in many different ways. High School students
are often encouraged to volunteer in their communities, and some schools
actually have a volunteer/community service requirement for their students. As
a student, what are some ways volunteering could help you, beyond the obvious
reasons of meeting a graduation requirement or padding your resume for
scholarship and possibly college applications? (*Side note: Volunteering and
community service ARE important for scholarship (and sometimes college)
applications. It is rare to find a scholarship application that does not ask
for this type of experience.) Here are some other benefits of volunteering:
Discover New Interests: Volunteering might help you discover an interest you
didn’t know you had. Helping at a community children’s party might help you
discover you enjoy working with children. Helping with BINGO at the local
nursing home might help you discover you enjoy and have a knack for working
with the elderly. Helping at a soup kitchen or food pantry might unlock a
passion for helping those in need. Many volunteer experiences could lead to a
new passion or interest for any given student.
Career Exploration: Finding a new
interest or passion could lead you into a new career path. Any of the
experiences I mentioned above could become a possible career path. I have known
students who have found career possibilities through volunteer experiences.
These have typically been career areas the student would not have explored
without discovering this interest through the volunteer experience.
Acquiring/Developing
New Skills: Through volunteering, you
may acquire new skills or hone skills you already had but haven’t used much. I
became a volunteer piano accompanist at a young age. Through these experiences,
my skills and my confidence level continued to improve, and I have never
stopped volunteering as a piano accompanist. I have a former student who has
been a non-stop volunteer for a very worthy cause for a children’s hospital.
She has developed a great passion for this cause and has developed her
leadership skills tremendously through her continued devotion to raising money
for this organization. These skills will come in handy in college, career,
and/or life in general.
Giving Of Our Time: There may be
no greater reward in life than unselfishly giving of our time. People who
volunteer typically feel very humbled and rewarded by the time they spend
serving others. This can often become a
lifelong passion. Our society needs more unselfish givers of their time, and
those who volunteer typically continue to volunteer even more as their lives go
on.
These are just some of the
benefits of volunteering. The next
question I would typically hear if giving this information to high school
students would be – Well, where can I volunteer?
You can volunteer in
numerous places. Volunteer experiences could include, but are certainly not
limited to: helping with a community event for the public, for children, or for
senior citizens; helping with physical labor for any number of community
organizations or businesses; volunteering to help at a nursing home or a
church; volunteering for a soup kitchen, food bank, Red Cross, homeless
shelter, animal shelter, the YMCA, a public library, youth sports leagues, or
political campaigns. The possibilities for volunteering are endless, and the
value of the volunteer experiences might just be “priceless!”
Mary Joan - Sioux City and Orange City Student Success Centers
