What is Community Service Giving Back to You?

The objective of community service is to “provide an opportunity for students to make meaningful connections and enrich the lives of others by providing service for their community,” according to the Community Service Contract.

Hundreds of thousands of people participate every year, contributing their time and effort, and they do it, most importantly, without obligation.

All Rocklin High School students, however, are obligated to complete a minimum of 25 hours by the end of their junior year or their senior privileges are revoked. Despite the good intentions and mass public participation, students find themselves reluctant to participate. 

Most notably they are unhappy about their work not being compensated in hard cash and they don’t see a reason to dedicate their time.

 “I have a lot of homework and I am working after school too, fitting in those hours is admittedly stressful,” says junior Kaiden Jewell.

The stress of keeping up good grades and nightly homework puts a heavy burden on students.

It turns out that these hours really do give back to you. Not to mention provide a good break from the grind of studying and get your mind off the stressful assignments.

These hours affect you on a personal level, it builds a network of human resources for future employment, and looks great on college applications.

Numerous studies over the past several years have shown that volunteering is not just good for your mind and conscience; it’s also good for your body. By focusing on others’ problems instead of their own, students have reported reduced stress and overall improvement in mood and health. 

A study conducted by United Health Group found that, 76 percent of people who have volunteered in the past twelve months say that volunteering has made them feel happier, and 94 percent of people report that it improves their mood. 78 percent of volunteers say that it has lowered their stress levels. 

It has proven its effectiveness in that this is an often recommended rehab for people recovering from depression.This is an incredible benefit considering how stressful our modern day society is. 

Volunteers are also responsible and involved in a lot of events that we often do not think about and often take for granted. 

The Corporation for National and Community Service reported that there was a total of 77.4 million Americans who volunteered 6.9 billion hours last year. Based on the Independent Sector’s estimate of the average value of a volunteer hour ($24.14 in 2017), the estimated value of this volunteer service is nearly $167 billion. Community service is something that plays a role in millions of lives and keeps growing as its own community of those involved. 

Skills such as leadership and the ability to collaborate with a team, translate well to many jobs and workplaces, which are qualities that employers look for.

Networking is another major benefit of volunteering. As a volunteer, meeting like-minded individuals who share your interests is extremely common.

In the future, these people can be important contacts for writing letters of recommendation and for putting you in touch with the right people for scholarships and jobs.

Doing this kind of work shows prospective schools that you can balance activities with your schoolwork and that you have good time management. These qualities are exactly what colleges are looking for in their future students.

So between the stress relief, human resources, and increasing your chances of getting into your choice college, these hours go a long way to give back.