Journal #2: Community Service

Serving your community is a series of gestures you make in order to give back to the place you can call home. These actions can range from small acts of kindness to larger attempts at trying to make it a better place. Everyone should feel obligated to do something for their community, whether it be helping the elderly or simply not worsening it with litter, graffiti, or things of that nature. As a student, I have a duty to use my role as an educated individual to help others take on those tasks and lead them to making better choices. As a Scholar, I should have the responsibility to motivate my peers and help them realize their potential in their community. The kind of service that is promoted by the honors program definitely helps with the process of enlightening and encouraging students; by setting a requirement, it ensures that students fulfill at least a part of their duty to their community. Additionally, there are many opportunities within the school that help students find places to volunteer. However, I don’t think that service should be limited to mandatory hours for school. It is essential to a persons growth as an individual to give back. By helping the less fortunate we expand our point of view beyond ourselves & take a moment to realize how much it is we really have been blessed with. In general, though, it is important to understand what is going on in your community. Which is why, as a Baruch Scholar, I feel that I have more of a responsibility to help others see the benefits of giving back.Ever since my freshman year in high school, I’ve been doing my very best to make the difference. From joining teen advocacy, helping out at a soup kitchen, cleaning parks, tutoring children, to an even broader range of actions, I’ve gone out of my way to look for opportunities to do something for others. In fact, I may one day join the Peace Corp in order to take that mindset and expand it to the fullest. Because of that, I understand how truly necessary it is and believe everyone should have a similar motivation to do the same. As Mohandus Gandhi once said, “Be the change you wish the see in the world.” And I hope that I, as well as my peers, can be that change.