Sometimes, all people need is an hour of help. Even if students don’t have a lot of time to give to the community, simply spending a little bit of their day helping others can make a huge impact.
Many students seek opportunities to volunteer throughout the school year. Seniors taking English 12 have a requirement for 10 hours of community service, and the largest extracurricular club at the high school, National Honor Society (NHS), requires 20+ hours per year. Sometimes, students also just want to help out.
In fact, the high school has a club specifically to get students involved in community service. The Volunteer Club, run by math teacher and girl’s basketball coach Sarah Snyder, is based out of room 1146. If students are interested in joining, they only need to stop by or talk to Snyder.
“I have a volunteer board that I will put out whenever I get volunteer opportunities and I’ll also put it in [the morning] announcements,” Snyder said. “[Students] can just come and sign up their name. Sometimes it’s stuff within the school, but sometimes it’s opportunities outside of the school.”
Senior Jeremiah Robinson participates in a variety of volunteering for the National Honor Society and Student Council. He helped at football and volleyball games, ran the concession stand and helped at the Kids Food Basket. He is well-versed in all the different ways students could learn about opportunities.
“[Students] can ask NHS members, Student Council members or go to the front desk of the guidance counselors,” Robinson said. “There’s also a few QR codes where people could find [opportunities to volunteer].
Snyder believes having opportunities available at the high school can benefit students in the long term.
“I think teenagers want to help but they don’t know where to help,” Snyder said. “Nowadays, teenagers kind of get a bad rep, but there’s opportunities out there for them to show they are good people and they do like to help.”
Even if students aren’t required to get volunteer hours, it can benefit them personally. Sophomore Annabelle Amaya has been a part of the Volunteer Club for the last year and sees the change she makes in the world with just a few hours of her time.
“[Volunteering] makes my day brighter,” Amaya said. “I feel better helping people in the community.”
Further than that, Robinson argues, volunteering helps make our community a better place.
“When you start volunteering, you get to learn more about perspectives, and when you learn more about that you start to get more empathy towards other people,” Robinson said. “It also helps the community because it not only gives back money-wise, but it gives back by being a loving human.”
