What does it mean to serve your community?
I always wondered what it meant to serve my community. Growing up I always questioned why it should matter to me to help out. Because what do I get in return? There was never any direct benefit besides fulfilling my community service requirement.
It wasn’t until I hit high school that I realized that serving my community meant much more than just fulfilling the minimum required hours of community service in order to graduate. I realized that helping out within my community made a difference in my life and in the people I was helping. I started volunteering as a teacher’s assistant for my ballet school and this experience really changed my views on community service. Although I wasn’t cleaning up a park or working in a soup kitchen what I was doing was just as important. I became an older sister and mentor to the girls that I was teaching. I still remember what one girl said to me after she watched me rehearse: “One day I want to be as good a ballerina as you!” I’ll be honest, it made me warm and fuzzy inside!
From my experience I would say that as a member of the Baruch community, and especially being in the Baruch Scholar Honors Program, we have a duty to give back. As Baruch Scholars we are getting the opportunity to attend college for free with a ton of amazing resources at our fingertips, an opportunity that very few people have. It not only benefits the communities that we are helping, it also gives us memorable experiences and helps us to grow as people.
Serving the community is related to the culture of service that the Honors Program promotes because the Honors Program is always stressing the importance of helping each other, whether its people within the Honors Program or the broader community. By helping other people you end up learning a lot about yourself.
