You may agree that community service can affect your disposition as a student. However, how can it happen? You are able to know the answer below along with the benefits of joining community service for students.
As explained on the All Famous FAQs site, for students, community service can increase their awareness and responsibility. When they commit to a project or activity with others, it will help to build and strengthen relationships and make new friendships. When they are volunteering, it can keep them in regular contact with others and it helps them to be able to develop a solid support system. In turn, it protects students against stress and depression when they are going through challenging times.
Meanwhile, on opencolleges.edu.au, it is explained that according to a number of studies carried oyt in K-12 and higher education programs, students who take part in high-quality community-based service-learning enjoy some benefits in their personal and also professional life. There was a study that analyzed data from the National Education Longitudinal Study and the study found that students who are more civically engaged tend to perform better in school subjects such as history, reading, mathematics, and science and are more apt to complete high school.
Furthermore, on that site, it is explained that researchers found that community service enhanced students’ problem-solving skills, improved their ability to work in a team and enabled them to plan more effectively.
According to the site, another benefit of service-learning is that young people are far more likely to remain engaged when they are able to see that their participation is effecting change. It helps them to realize that they can make useful contributions to society by joining service and social action. It also can help students to cultivate connections between various organizations, community groups, and schools where it can prove to be useful later.
And here is what Flore Dorcely-Mohr, Assistant Director of the Federal Community Service Program at Drew University, said about students who participate in community service cited from opencolleges.edu.au.
“Community service helps (students) to mature by developing social skills, doing outreach or public relations tasks. Additionally, students get to network with professionals in a way that they might not otherwise be able to just by going to class. When these connections are made, students find they have valuable references that can lead to other career opportunities later on. Finally, volunteering allows students to make an important contribution to an organization or their field of interest without the pressure of a regular part time or full-time job. Some of these volunteering jobs may lead to an internship or a paid position, but even if that does not happen, the projects teach responsibility and work ethic to those who take them seriously.”
And here is what David Bakke, education expert and columnist at Money Crashers, says about community service for students.
“Students who volunteer can gain important life experiences, meet new people, and may be able to receive school credit. It can also enhance a college admissions application. When volunteering, students enjoy a sense of personal satisfaction, knowing that they’re making a difference in other peoples’ lives. It also teaches them more about themselves and introduces them to new friends. They also gain a sense of connection to their community. Also, employers often take note of volunteering experience on a resume, and this helps applicants stand out from those who have no experience volunteering.”
The Reasons Why Community Service Is Important for Students
According to the Whitby site, here are some reasons why community service is important for students especially when students are involved at a young age.
- Students can develop a richer perspective of the world they live in.
Volunteering is an important part of preparing students to take responsibility as open minded, principled citizens in a global community. When students are doing community service, they can see how much their work can have an impact on the world. If students take part in community service, they will be able to interact with people who have different backgrounds and they also will be able to learn patience and empathy as they develop a global perspective. - They can connect what they learn in school to the real world.
By participating in community service, students have the opportunity to explore academic interests through a real-world perspective. Let’s say that a student is interested in learning about recycling in school. If so, they are able to pick up recyclables from local businesses and then take them to a local recycling center to see the impact directly. If students participate in community service, it can also help them to learn more about the functions of government. Or, let’s say that they clean up the Long Island Sound. When they do that, it can help them learn more about environmental issues directly. When students connect what they are learning in school to issues that actually happen in real life, they will throw themselves into learning. As also explained earlier, studies show that students who give back to the community can perform better in school, especially in subjects like reading, history, and math. In addition, they are also more likely to graduate from high school. - They can get ahead in the College Admissions Process.
Admission to elite colleges and universities has been more competitive. Because of that, if students have volunteer experience, it can advantage them in the process of college admissions. So, there are a lot of students who begin to do community service projects when they advance through high school. However, if students start earlier in doing community service, they have a different advantage because they have breadth of experience and as a result, it permits them to be able to quickly step up to leadership positions in organizations.
Not only that, if students start community service before high school, they will have many other benefits for them. One of them is that they have a chance to apply for scholarships, especially scholarships that are designed to reward their participation in community service.
A bookworm and researcher especially related to law and citizenship education. I spend time every day in front of the internet and the campus library.
