Students don’t know the true importance of volunteering until it’s too late. The stressful cramming of volunteer hours until the point of no return is not worth it. To prevent this schools should educate them on volunteering earlier on in school, starting freshman year. Volunteering can set students apart from others when applying to college, make them feel more fulfilled and it can even open them up to job opportunities.
College is a major topic in students’ lives as soon as they get into high school, so why not bring up the topic of what can help them get into college? Volunteering is what sets students apart from others when applying. For example, two students could have the same GPA, extracurriculars, and major; but one of them has 200 hours of volunteering that relates to the major and the other doesn’t have any at all. It’s obvious which one college would rather, it’s important to educate students about this.
Not only is it good for academic reasons, it makes people feel good about themselves. Getting to help organizations, meeting new people, and doing something productive makes people feel satisfied with what they’ve done. No matter how small or big it is, it’s still a good thing.
Many believe that volunteering should only matter when someone gets into their junior. But junior year gets even busier, students are taking advanced classes, getting jobs, and also trying to think of what they’re doing after high school. They wouldn’t have time for volunteering anymore so wouldn’t it be better for them to get it started earlier?
It’s obvious that volunteering is important but it’s even more vital that students know about volunteering earlier on so they don’t have to stress about it when they apply for college. To make things easier on students and make them feel more satisfied with their high school experience, schools need to educate students earlier on about volunteering.
Schools can accomplish this by making volunteer work a topic of discussion at fish camp and during Cougar Block.
