by John Allen

Created on: September 16, 2008   Last Updated: September 28, 2010

Throughout their lives people of all ages should take an active role in their communities and the high school requirement encourages this to carry on beyond the high school years and into students' futures. Students participating in community service are many times recognized for their contribution of time and effort. Along with the self esteem boost associated with this public praise students also improve what my parents referred to as "moral fiber" or it will improve "character." As a recently graduated high school student myself I can attest to the long hours spent building a fence and getting up early to run a soccer game but now that I look back those experiences helped me the most.

Community service is just that, servicing the community in a way that builds it. Building the community has lasting effects which can be felt by everyone in it. Each project or service provided by a person in community service is viewed hundreds of times as an inspiration to other people in the community. High school students have so much to offer the surrounding community not only because of the creativity and dedication that flows through many, but because they really do owe the community. When we stop to think about it the average high school needs about 5-6,000 dollars each year PER student and that's a loan that we never have to pay back. This alone should be enough to do the bare minimum 20-30 hours that are required.

Community service also is a great opportunity for students to connect with the surrounding area on a greater than kid to adult level and really show what they have to offer. Many students feel that adults treat them like inferiors and don't respect them but when a student participates in community service many adults will feel pround and put them on the same level as themselves even if just for a minute. This act allows adults to view the student as the adult they are about to become not just as the child that they left behind.

Finally a student's involvement in community service helps build character. As cliche as this sounds it's true, a students respect for their surroundings and appreciation for the things others do will improve greatly because they will have seen firsthand some of the work involved in a lot of projects and what kind of thought and effort went into that project. Of course a requirement should be kept for students to participate in community service because without it our communities could fall apart 10 years down the road.

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