Growing up I never really got involved in community service. I realized that it was important, but I just kept pushing it off. I justified my inaction by telling myself I had too much work, or that even if I did not help others, somebody would. I guess that I always thought that volunteer service was a positive activity, but that it was not my responsibility. This mindset changed when I got to high school. My high school required that every student perform at least fifteen hours of community service per year. At first I was a bit upset. Fifteen hours seemed like a lot, and my old excuse of having too much work resurfaced. I also did not really know what to get involved in. Even if I did need to fulfill my requirement, I did not know how to go about it. Fortunately, in middle of ninth grade, my Biology teacher approached me, and asked me if I wanted to participate in the school’s Peer Tutoring society. Although this was the first I was hearing about it, she persuaded me into helping another student who was struggling in Algebra. I thoroughly enjoyed tutoring him, and I continued to be involved in the Peer Tutoring society for the rest of my high school career.

Besides for helping me fulfill my community service requirement, volunteering in the Peer Tutoring society taught me what I failed to realize earlier; volunteering is my responsibility. I think that the atmosphere of the Baruch Honors program really reinforces this idea by ensuring that we complete a community service requirement. However, even though it is mandatory, I am sure that I will learn an important lesson from this volunteer project, just like I did from my last one.