As the weather cools, schools and businesses offer various opportunities for students to receive community service hours to help students apply to colleges and jobs.
Schools and businesses are starting their fall events for the year and need all the help they can get. Many elementary and junior high schools plan Halloween-themed events for students to attend, and some schools ask for additional help from high schools to keep their events running smoothly.
“[Volunteers] assist local organizations in running events. Many non-profit companies and establishments need assistance in providing their services. Without help from volunteers, they would not be able to run their events,” said OH science teacher and National Honor Society sponsor Amy Dillion.
There are several festive holiday opportunities available to students during the October and Halloween season.
“Elementary schools and junior highs will have their Halloween haunted houses or some type of Halloween event for the kids,” said OH counselor and Student Council sponsor April Ponte.
This year, schools and businesses offer many volunteer opportunities throughout November as well as October.
Dillion said, “To name a few events [there is the] OH craft fair, the Gobbler Hobbler, and science or math tutoring in the LRC,” as well as food pantries taking place almost every week.
Students can find all available information for volunteering under their graduation class Google Classroom. Sheets for inputting volunteer hours and all signup areas are found in the Google Classrooms.
“Every year, [a new Google classroom is created] for the incoming freshman…[staying] with the [student] all four years,” Ponte explained, adding that class codes are made available to all freshmen and other new students at the beginning of the school year.
Students who have volunteering experience report enjoying their time volunteering as it is still a fun opportunity to get to know new people and expose yourself to new experiences.
“I’ve met so many new people through volunteering and learned so many new things,” OH junior Lina Aref said.
Students are also encouraged to volunteer when it relates to a possible future career or if they want to do something for their community.
“It’s just exposure to what [a future involving that] would look like, but also just doing service for others,” said Ponte.
Although not required, students are encouraged to take part in community service hours offering a sense of community and pride after helping others.
“I think that all students should volunteer at some time in their high school career,” said Dillon.
Hello! My name is Kayla Goddard and I'm a Senior at Oswego high school, this is my second year on the 42Fifty staff, now a news and social media editor. You can contact me by emailing 42Fifty@sd308.org and putting my name in the subject line. We welcome comments on our articles and feedback on our publication!
Hi Kayla! I learned the importance of volunteering when I started Science National Honor Society many years ago. Local places always appreciate volunteers! Sometimes there are more volunteers than needed and students do a lot of waiting or standing around, but I always say “It is better to have volunteers you don’t need than need volunteers you don’t have.” Also, some college will let you use high school volunteer hours when applying for clubs/scholarships/etc., so it is a good idea to make a Note on your phone or add events to a Google Sheet to keep track of them!