Published by Leea Ivanel -- January issue -- CAMPUS NEWS
“I only volunteer because I have to.”
This is a common phrase heard among high school students, so much so that one might think the main motivations for volunteering are college and not angry demanding mothers.
In fact, Liam Gunning, a junior, said, “When I first started volunteering it was because my mother made me do it. It was just something for college applications.”
Many students are in the same situation that Gunning was in, viewing volunteering as a chore and not as something that they have a personal connection with -- to them, the main goal is writing down the number of hours they spend volunteering on their college applications.
Simply having a lot of volunteering hours might not be the first thing colleges care for, however.
According to PrepScholar, “Most admissions officers said [in a survey] that they care more about what you have done, why you are doing it, and what you are getting out of it. As long as you can adequately explain these things, they don’t care as much about the number of hours you spent doing it.”
Even if a student starts volunteering with only hours in mind, it would benefit them more if they actually did volunteering that meant something to them.
While Gunning originally started volunteering because he had to, it started to mean more to him as he worked in soup kitchens and was even involved in building a school in Malawi with the money he helped raise.
Gunning said, “The amount of hours I did and how it would look on my application started to matter less to me; volunteering became something I thoroughly enjoyed because I could make a difference in people’s lives.”
Another reason to make volunteering mean more than just checking in a box on college applications is that it can bring happiness into the lives of students.
Actually, volunteering does even more than make students feel happy: it has health benefits too. According to a study done by the Corporation for National & Community Service, those who volunteer have lower rates of mortality than those who do not.
The study stated that, “...the positive effect of volunteering on physical and mental health is due to the personal sense of accomplishment that an individual gains from his or her volunteer activities.”
Katrina Talavera, a senior, has volunteered in soup kitchens, homeless shelters, elderly homes, has tutored kids, worked with disadvantaged families, and volunteered at the SPCA, all since middle school. While doing so much volunteering would help her admission into college, that is not her main motivation.
Talavera said, “I volunteer because I love to interact with all people, not for college. It makes me feel so happy, calm, and fulfilled after I help someone who is going through a hard time feel better.”
Overall, volunteering doesn’t have to be meaningless hours spent doing something with the hope of getting into a better college -- it can be much more than that.
Kalea Pasion, a junior, said, “In the end, I think people should volunteer because there are a lot of noble causes and organizations that need help and the end result of helping people is more important in the long run than just doing it for college.”