Community service activities such as beach cleanups, tutoring, and volunteering at homeless shelters have long been great opportunities for students to give back to their community. However, as college acceptance rates have plummeted in recent years, volunteer work has come to be perceived as a major factor in one’s college acceptances, resulting in controversy surrounding the activity. But is this motivation for volunteering really such a bad thing?

Senior Alden Pfau suggests that individuals who participate in community service activities to increase their chances of getting into top-tier schools are being “ingenious.” Senior Christopher Monell argues that ideally, one should volunteer out of the goodness of one’s heart, but the work is still being done, helping the community in the process. 

Good options for volunteer work abound, ranging from assisting at one’s local food bank to participating in street clean-up efforts. Regardless of one’s motivation, the important thing is that these activities contribute positively to society. While it’s ideal to volunteer out of genuine interest, the reality is that college admissions have become extremely competitive, and students are under big pressure to stand out. Engaging in volunteer work for this reason shouldn’t reduce its value; rather, it emphasizes the importance of recognizing the multifaceted motivations behind such actions. 

In an ideal world, everyone would volunteer purely out of a desire to help others. However, acknowledging the reasons why students choose to volunteer can foster a more inclusive and understanding community. Whether driven by college aspirations or a genuine desire to give back to the community, the impact of volunteer work remains invaluable. And who knows? Maybe the students will gain more from the experience than they initially expected.