How Can You Get Student Accessible Community Service Hours?

If you're getting ready to graduate high school, you have a wealth of doors and opportunities getting ready to open for you. Because of this, you need to start outlining plans for the next steps. That means college for many people.

Close to 16 million undergrads enrolled in college in a recent year. Many colleges have requirements for community service hours, in addition to things like SAT scores and GPAs.  

These tips will teach you more about these community service hours and the many different ways you can achieve them. 

What Are Community Service Hours?

Get to know the importance of community service hours so that you can make the right decision as you close out your high school career. Most colleges allow the definition of volunteer work to be broad, as long as it plays a role in improving the community around you. 

This can be done through an organization or part of regular volunteer opportunities that your locality offers. Some examples of community service include:

• -Feeding the hungry at free kitchens and stocking cupboards at food pantries
• -Highway and public property cleanup efforts
• -Volunteering to teach and tutor kids
• -Helping the elderly
• -Working charity events and fundraisers
• -Serving in administrative support roles for charities and non-profits
• -Working with established organizations like Habitat for Humanity

If you're interested in going to college, these community service roles can make a difference in your application being approved. It's important to also understand the personal and professional benefits that community service hours can bring.  

What Are the Benefits?

Before you start contacting organizations for volunteer work opportunities, make sure that you understand how much of an impact this can have on your life. There's a reason that people from all walks of life spend time volunteering, and even dedicate their lives to it. 

On a personal level, volunteer work brings several benefits. Some examples of how it can impact your life include:

• -Building a strong sense of self-confidence and self-image. Helping others takes you out of your own concerns and puts life in perspective
• -Feelings of gratitude and service can help people who are struggling with depression and other issues
• -Volunteer work is often active, which can help you stay fit and healthy
• -It can turn into an activity that brings you closer to your family and friends
• -Volunteer work fosters human connections that you can't get in any other way

Aside from these intrinsic benefits, you will also notice some tangible improvements in your life.  

It Builds Professional Skills

Even though you are helping others with your community service, it's important to recognize how much it will benefit you personally. 

Fulfilling community service hours can help you build a toolkit of professional skills that will make a difference in your life. When you do volunteer work, it requires you to follow instructions, cooperate with others, and give it your all. 

All of these matters can help you in the professional world and will make you an asset to any company. Depending on the type of volunteer work, you might have the opportunity to lead small groups of people. 

When they know that you are doing this for college, many people who oversee your volunteer work will ask you what things can help you in your career path. For instance, a non-profit organization might teach you how to write a press release and give you the opportunity to write one that they use if your prospective career is in public relations or marketing. 

Consider these matters as you set out to plan your volunteer work. 

You Will Improve Your College Application

Of course, one of the main reasons that you'll want to do community service is because of how it improves your standing as a college applicant. 

Before you can step foot on your college campus, you may need to meet some community service requirements. First, look through the application requirements to see how many hours you need to log for your application to be considered. 

Whenever your application is between you and other candidates who didn't fulfill the community service requirements, or whose hours don't measure up to yours, you give yourself a good shot of getting the nod. 

It's important to make your application as strong as possible if you're looking to get admitted into a college that is competitive or difficult to get into. You will be happy that you left nothing to chance once it's time to put in your application for the college of your dreams. 

Volunteering Builds Your Resume

Getting volunteer hours can also help you when you'd like to build your resume for the long term. Volunteer work is universally respected, whether you're applying to colleges, looking for summer internships, trying to get into grad school, or building your career trajectory one decision at a time. 

It pays to make your resume as strong as possible because you never know what kinds of opportunities might fall into your lap in the future. 

Beefing up your resume in this way can open you up to study abroad programs and other amazing opportunities within the next few years. Do everything that you can to fill out your resume so that you can manage your trajectory moving forward. 

It Teaches Compassion 

Volunteering will build a sense of compassion in your life. This compassion can help you learn to have better relationships and to think and feel outside of yourself as a whole. 

Building compassion with small projects can lead to you treating people better in much larger ways. People who have compassion typically also have more resilience. It gets you out of your ego and helps you to put many life matters into their proper order. 

You May Find Your Calling

Few things you can do bring as much meaning as volunteer work. When you volunteer, you get to see the impact that you can have affecting change on an issue that needs help. You may also get to see how you impact the life of another human being just by deciding to and giving your time and energy. 

Doing volunteer work can create life meaning and awaken passions in you that you didn't even know you had. 

Many people end up switching careers at some point. This can happen due to finding new information or recognizing that you have a passion for something else. 

For many, it happens because people chose their careers for all the wrong reasons. This often happens when people don't approach this career path with any sort of meaning. 

If you serve as a student volunteer, you might develop a sense of meaning toward a cause that can lead to your dream career and what you choose to do with the rest of your life. 

It Can Open You Up to Scholarships

Many people log community service hours for college, but it's important to recognize that many scholarships also ask applicants to fulfill these hours. Look into the list of scholarship requirements and find out whether they mention community service. 

Getting access to this money can be life-changing since college tuition isn't getting any less expensive. Having access to scholarship money can allow you to focus on your education without stressing out over how you will pay for it. 

Volunteering Builds a Sense of Community

You will also have a greater sense of community when you decide to volunteer. Many people have lived in their city or town their whole lives and never knew the amount of need that is prevalent. 

Taking the time to volunteer to solve some of these problems in your community will let you know that everyone doesn't have it so easy and that there is always more work to be done. This helps you take pride in your community and in helping others who belong to it. 

How Can You Get Volunteer Hours?

Now that you understand how community service hours work, you need to make sure that you set your sights on getting the best volunteer opportunities. When you understand this, you can also be more strategic with the way that you find this volunteer work. 

There are plenty of areas you can check for leads. 

Look Into Non-Profits and Organizations

Non-profits and charity organizations will be your biggest lead when it comes to finding volunteer work. These organizations exist to solve issues in the community, and always have programs and events that you can sign up to volunteer at. 

Many of these organizations always need volunteers, and never quite have enough. If you can fill this gap by providing your time and effort, you'll find that you can get as many hours as you'd like. This is helpful so that you can complete your college application by the deadline.  

Consult Your City or County

Always check with your locality to find out about any built-in volunteer opportunities that they may offer. This is common because there are always parts of the community that need to be cleaned up or areas of need that residents can help out with. 

Find out if these volunteer opportunities take place on specific days or on an ongoing basis. You'll also need to learn how to sign up and who the main point of contact is. Let them know that this volunteer work is for college credit so they can also log your hours.  

Ask Your Friends and Teachers

Check with your inner circle to find potential volunteer opportunities that you can take advantage of. Each year, your teachers are used to seniors looking for volunteer options to beef up their college resumes. 

Because of this, they likely are aware of some ongoing volunteer options that they can point you toward. Ask your college-bound friends where they are volunteering, and if there are any spaces available. 

From here, you should come away with a list of choices that you can choose between.  

Let Them Know You Want to Log Hours

It's important that you keep your log organized. While volunteering provides plenty of rewards, you should still make certain that you are getting verifiable credit for the work.

The college that you are applying to will want to see if you have a third party that can vouch for the work that you did. Build a strong relationship with the people that you volunteer with, and consider coming back during the summer once you're away at college.

The person that oversees your volunteer work might also be able to give you a letter of recommendation that can help with your college admission, scholarship search, or other matters.  

Do the best work that you are capable of every day that you volunteer so that you get a glowing recommendation that speaks volumes about your work ethic and who you are as a person.  

Get Your Community Service Hours

Putting together community service hours will help you on your path to life. Graduating high school and going off to college is a once-in-a-lifetime experience that is a rite of passage for many people each year. 

With the information in this article, you can put yourself into the best position possible to get admitted to the school of your choice by satisfying your volunteer hours.  Honor Society can help you out with many aspects of your high school to college transition. Take the time to contact us to learn more about the resources we provide.