Tianyang Jiang
What is High School Volunteering Like These Days?
Today, millions of highschoolers across the globe are participating in community service activities: playing with puppies, doing 5K runs, or building science kits for school children at lunch time. However, many are not doing these for the pleasure of serving others, but for the resume perk that these extracurriculars bring about. This means that the surge in teenage volunteerism will soon expire once young people enter into universities or the workforce, once there are no longer any graduation requirements and stressful corporate cultures have taken over their lives.
In this article, I hope to encourage you to become more genuine and altruistic when volunteering - to go beyond the 40-hour requirement by finding the volunteering activity that is just right for you.
My Experience with Volunteering
The first day I stepped into a high school hallway was just as dizzying as it sounds - a new start, a fresh break from all things elementary and kindergarten. During this early period of academic and extracurricular exploration, I visited every club that was in existence, trying to piece together a fulfilling high school career. And volunteering, as the hot-pepper topic among all high schoolers, had certainly entered onto my to-do list. However, I never found it to be particularly captivating, as I always saw it as an inevitability to achieve the 40-hour community service requirement. And to no surprise, I couldn’t understand why some of my friends were willing to dedicate their entire summers volunteering for people that they’ve never met before.
My questions were answered when I started volunteering for one particular program - the Alzhimer’s Poetry Project founded by poet Gary Glazner. As odd as it sounds, this program aims to teach family caregivers, healthcare workers and artists to use poetry to connect with people living with Alzheimer's disease and related dementia. The founder posited that by reading and recreating childhood jingles and poems with patients of Alzheimer’s, we can rekindle some of those dusted memories.
As a literature enthusiast, I opted in without much thought - not only was I motivated by the communal goodness that this project may bring, but also was I motivated by my genuine passion for literature, and the possibilities it holds.
My time spent under this project was transformative: from light-hearted conversations with elders who had dementia, to tactile poetry books that we made for individuals who are visually impaired. It was because of the constant supply of passion and altruism that I finally started to internalize the weight of volunteerism, and started to understand the people who enjoyed it so much.
What’s the Tipping Point?
What changed my attitude towards volunteering? The answer is passion. Without it, I couldn’t have volunteered without caring about the hours. Taking the lead is not only about putting yourself out there, but also about surrounding yourself with the right crowd, where there’s a sufficient supply of both fun and challenges. By forcing oneself into volunteer/leadership just to tick certain CV boxes, one may lose out on the happiness that community service is meant to cultivate.
What can you do?
1. Choose your activities wisely:
“Quality over quantity” is one of the most used quotes on this planet, and there are good reasons behind it. In this case, instead of scrambling to find a volunteer role, start slow. Start with what you are genuinely passionate about - the ideas that keep you awake at night. Then try to identify one of two trustable organizations that you can attach to. For example, if you love basketball, try becoming a referee for a youth basketball league; if you love origami, try becoming a paper-folding tutor for your local elementary school. There are infinite possibilities, but choosing the right one is the first step towards an illuminating volunteer experience.
2. Long-term volunteering vs short-term volunteering:
At school, students are taught about the benefits of volunteerism; but they are rarely taught that volunteering should not be sporadic. In fact, studies show that when volunteers at orphanages switch between programs extensively, they bring more emotional trauma to the children who have just become emotionally attached to them. Therefore, with proper guidance, you should try approaching your activities with a more holistic outlook, taking into consideration not only the present, but also the future.
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