| Volunteering is something that you should consider | | | | is a good way to meet people who don't go to your |
| doing at any point in your life, but college is really a | | | | school and to make contacts in the wider community. |
| prime time for doing volunteer work. Plus, it can help | | | | When you're volunteering, it's important to keep in |
| you out in a lot of different ways. Whether you | | | | mind that you'll be meeting a lot of people who are |
| volunteer regularly with an organization near your | | | | different from you. This is a good thing! There's a |
| school or take extended volunteer trips as alternative | | | | tendency in college to get stuck in groups of people |
| school breaks, there are plenty of reasons to | | | | from your dorm, your major, or your sorority or |
| volunteer. Here are just a few. | | | | fraternity so much so that you forget to keep |
| 1. You get to learn about yourself. College is all about | | | | making friends outside of those groups. Volunteering |
| becoming the person you're supposed to be, and | | | | is likely to help you work with people that you end |
| there's no better way to do that than to volunteer. | | | | up being great friends with. |
| By giving back to your community or to humanity in | | | | 3. It looks good on your resume. This shouldn't be |
| general, you'll end up learning more about yourself | | | | your only motivation for volunteering, but it's a good |
| than anything else. | | | | motivation for choosing where to volunteer. If you |
| One of the best ways to give back and to learn | | | | want to teach, try to volunteer somewhere that |
| something at the same time is to really stretch | | | | you'll be working with kids, and you could go on a |
| yourself and push your personal limits. This isn't to | | | | medical missions trip if you're a pre-med major. |
| say that you should volunteer in a capacity that | | | | Even if you can't find a volunteer opportunity that |
| makes you totally uncomfortable, but you should | | | | matches your major, you can probably find one that |
| definitely use volunteering as an opportunity to try | | | | will use skills you hope to develop in the workplace, |
| something new. | | | | whether those skills are perseverance and endurance, |
| If you like kids but are from a rural area, working | | | | an ability to figure out how to solve problems, or the |
| with inner-city youth will be a whole new ballgame for | | | | ability to take charge of a situation and manage |
| you. If you like to be outside but have never built | | | | other people. |
| something before, learn how to put together a house | | | | When you volunteer, keep track of the things that |
| with Habitat for Humanity or a similar volunteer-based | | | | you learned from the experience so that you can |
| service. | | | | use that information on resumes and scholarship |
| 2. You can make new friends. Volunteering is | | | | applications. Also, stay in contact, if possible, with the |
| probably one of the best ways to make friends with | | | | people who were in charge of the volunteer |
| people you would otherwise never meet. If you're | | | | operation. If you did them a good turn by |
| volunteering on a college trip, you'll probably find that | | | | volunteering, they'll probably do you a good turn by |
| some of your best friends from college come from | | | | writing you a good letter of reference. |
| that trip. Volunteering with a community organization | | | | |