The Value of Volunteering
By Jessica Pupillo
Help a child learn to read, create a Web site, or nurse sick animals back to health. Community organizations in your neighborhood need people just like you to answer the call of duty and volunteer.
While volunteers provide valuable service to the community, volunteering is also a great way to test out career options. Interested in a medical career? Then prove that you can stand the sight of blood by volunteering at a local hospital. Want to be a teacher? Call a local elementary school and help with after-school tutoring programs.
Not sure where to start? Volunteer Match (www.volunteermatch.org) can help you find organizations in your area that need volunteers. Simply enter your zip code, and the site provides a variety of volunteer opportunities available close to home.
In addition to exploring future career options, volunteering also introduces you to mentors (mentors write great letters of recommendation) and gives you valuable experience that looks great on college and scholarship applications.
Many scholarships reward students for their service to others. Scholarship selection committees are often looking for students with character, leadership, and a commitment to service. Volunteers can demonstrate these traits through their community service experience. Check out these scholarships that recognize young volunteers:
- Volunteers in high school can apply for the Presidential Freedom Scholarships. www.nationalservice.org/scholarships
- The Coca-Cola Scholarship looks at character, leadership, and service to others—all things you can demonstrate as a volunteer. coca-colascholars.org
- Prudential Financial offers youth the Spirit of Community Awards. www.prudential.com/overview/0,1468,intPageID%253D4141%2526blnPrinterFriendly%253D0,00.html
- Are you a Girl or a Boy Scout? If you earned the Girl Scout Gold Award, an award that goes to scouts who provide community service, you become eligible for Girl Scout scholarships. Girl Scouts (jfg.girlscouts.org/how/college/gsscholar.htm) gives hundreds of $10,000 scholarships to college-bound teens. Boy Scout Eagle Scouts are also eligible for a variety of scholarships (www.scouting.org/nav/enter.jsp?c=xds&terms=scholarships). Eagle Scouts are the highest rank in Boy Scouting, and all Eagle Scouts must take a leadership role in volunteer service projects.
- The Carpe Diem Foundation of Illinois offers $2,500-$5,000 scholarships to high school seniors and college undergrads who have demonstrated a commitment to community service. www.carpediemfoundation.org/pages/742053/index.htm
- The Humane Society of the United States offers a scholarship to students who have made a meaningful contribution to animal protection. www.hsus.org/ace/14158
While you won't earn a paycheck for volunteering, you will earn valuable experience, a sense of accomplishment and the satisfaction that only comes from personally making the world a better place to live.
Jessica Pupillo is a freelance writer and communications specialist for the Ritenour School District in St. Louis, Missouri.
