Cassidy Sargent
It is a requirement for all seniors in a history class to complete a certain amount of community service hours. There isn’t much difference for the students in the AP Government and Politics class or those in Civics or Economics; either way they both have to serve their community in some way.
Senior Kylie Vari, who is taking AP Gov., has completed her 10 required hours along with other hours for her own pleasure in various locations.
“I volunteered at St. Vincent de Paul, a soup kitchen, and Blast, an after-school program at Los Pen Elementary, just to fulfill my Gov. requirements,” she said. “For the past couple of years I have also been volunteering at a church organization called Vacation Bible School. There, I work with younger kids and spend time with them.”
Volunteering, even if it was required, has a special impact for Vari. She, like many others, takes a lot away after she has completed any amount of community service.
“I really like to volunteer because I feel go after I have done it,” Vari said. “I like the feeling I get after I help people. It is really fulfilling to possibly have an impact on someone else’s life.”
As an AP Gov. student, Vari was required to complete 10 hours and have it signed off. It may be controversial if this is an appropriate amount, but Vari finds it extremely acceptable.
“I think that 10 hours is a good amount to have us volunteer because with that amount of time we will be able to actually have an impact,” she said. “Plus we were assigned this project a long time ago with quite a few days off of school in between so it wasn’t really too difficult to make time to do some volunteer work.”
The work that is required of many teachers not only benefits the people that the students are volunteering for, it also affects the character of the students who are doing the work.
“Volunteer work helps me think about other people for a change, Vari said. “I am always focused on myself, stressed about school, getting into a good college, and keeping my procrastination in check that I sometime forget that I’m not the only person in the world. I get a new perspective when I volunteer because I know that I’m doing something solely to help someone else.”
