What It Means to Serve My Community

As a Baruch Scholar, I think that many students like to believe they are on a higher level than the rest of the Baruch student population- on an intellectual, social, and motivational level. It’s so easy to assume that because you have higher grades than someone else, it means you’re better than them. Throughout my high school experience, I have learned that that is not the case. It’s not what you do for yourself that determines what kind of person you are- it’s what you do for others. The Baruch Honors Program gives us opportunities on an academic level- but with that in mind, we as students should go far and excel on a social level- through volunteer work and the bettering of the community that surrounds us. This community is not limited to only Baruch at its students, but the general New York community as well. The expectations that the Baruch Honors program puts on us as students are appropriate, because we have to set an example for the rest of the student population. My high school required 40 hours of community service a semester, and by the end of high school I found that after doing volunteer work, I felt a lot happier and I felt better about myself.  I’m glad that Baruch expects us to do volunteer work, because in the past, I have found that volunteer work betters the lives of the one who volunteers just as much (if not more than) as the people being helped by the one who volunteers.