by Shaye Weaver
Students are catching on to the importance of community service. In 2008, over 441,000 more students volunteered in comparison with 2007, according to a study done by the Corporation for National and Community Service.
“Volunteerism has increased and more people are more enthusiastic about helping out,” said Laura Dempsey, public outreach director for the Athens' area Habitat for Humanity.
Some students are beginning to realize the importance of reaching out to their community and are escaping the confines of the University of Georgia’s campus.
“It’s easy to get caught up living in the bubble of the campus and not realizing you’re part of a greater community,” said Lisa Kendall, assistant director at the University of Georgia’s Center for Leadership and Service. “Being able to get connected to that community is through active citizenship.”
The Center for Leadership and Service provides students with the opportunity to find the right community service program to fit their interests through Volunteer UGA. Volunteer UGA is an umbrella for many different organizations that work with the Athens-Clarke community through service-based programs.
“As the economy slows and nonprofit organizations struggle to provide services on smaller budgets, volunteers become even more vital to the health of our nation’s communities,” the study said.
In a city of more than 113,000 people, there are service organizations for every need imaginable. Volunteering may be something a student wants to do but feels they have no time. According to Kendall, it’s a matter of making the time.
“When you break down all you do in a day, maybe you could Facebook a little less and donate that time to help out the community,” she said.
Students may not be able to see the impact that they can have on the community. When they are caught up in college life, “they begin to see Athens through rose colored glasses,” said Corbin Busby, president of Forever Young, a mentoring service that matches UGA students with students in the Athens-Clarke County school system. The program requires students to give only one hour a week to mentor a child in the Athens area.
“I certainly think that being a mentor will improve your life,” Busby said. “Being a mentor and working with a child really puts the world in perspective and they will certainly make you laugh.”
Personal growth does not always inspire college students to volunteer, but it does look good on a resume.
“It shows who you are as a citizen, and what kind of work you are able to do,” said Nikki Smith a career consultant from the University Career Center.
Volunteerism shows that you have initiative, Dempsey said. “Habitat for Humanity is a positive brand name on any resume.”
To find out more on how to get involved in Athens, visit the University’s Center for Leadership and Service located at 201L in the Tate Student Center. Visit the website for more information: http://www.uga.edu/cls/
Edited by: Amanda Williamson
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Good job trimming away the original, platitude-laden lead. The statistics in the new first graph might be meaningful, but they are national, and the story's local. Do those numbers refer to college students? What's the percentage increase in volunteers? More pertinent to your story, is the number of UGA student volunteers increasing? Does Lisa Kendall keep track of this? Does Laura Dempsey mean volunteerism is increasing nationally, or locally? Are there more people signed up to build houses in Athens than there were a year ago or three years ago? Numbers can be helpful, but only when their context provides a sense of scale, change or meaning. Remember Dogbert watching television.
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