A Note On Service

Heart Felt Healthy Teens Student Mentoring Program 2015

I've talked a lot about service and have been actively volunteering for 6 years now. I love it. Service is what has always made a new place feel like home and given me a genuine purpose in life. It wasn't until college and my time on the Capstone Service Team that I recognized the value of service in my life beyond the fact that it made me feel good. It's about more than giving back because you are fortunate and able to do so, it's about solving the problems we face in society with our own compassion and patience. It's about recognizing your own privilege and blessings in life and sharing that love and kindness with all those around you that may not get them same. Service is about being apart of something bigger than yourself. It's a way to step away and get perspective on how lucky you have it and how hard you have worked. Service is a bridge into other communities and cultures right here in our own neighborhood. You don’t have to go across the world to help needy children - there’s hungry and homeless kids in your hometown.

Capstone Service Trip to Charleston 2018

I've done just about every kind of service - tutoring kids, working in a hospital, picking up trash, cleaning out rooms, visiting with seniors, and feeding the homeless. All have value and importance and I've found that it exponentially increases when you become an advocate for the community you're working in. Actions speak louder than words but - your words have weight and power themselves. By educating your facebook friends, family members, and classmates you're extending the work you are doing by opening up a conversation about the greater issue. Advocacy invokes a sense of pride to speak confidently about your work and your beliefs and is powerful and motivational in itself. It’s important to remember that when serving you are generally not solving the issue. Feeding the homeless doesn’t end homelessness - nor does it address the systematic oppression and disadvantages that caused it. Working in title one or needy schools doesn’t fix the school system nor does it address how many disadvantaged schools are predominantly African American. Picking up trash doesn’t solve climate change.

Now this isn’t meant to be disheartening and diminish the work. There’s no such thing as small service and all service is impactful and meaningful. These are all examples of service learning - the greatest tool Capstone taught me. When we can break down an issue into the roots of the social justice problems then we can see even more value in our work and potentially find real solutions. Effective service learning is simply thorough reflection. Understanding the organization you served with is the first step, what’s their mission and how do they achieve that? Now review the activities that you did - how did you work further this mission? More importantly, service learning is best as a group discussion. “Group reflection is the essence of a community service experience: the students learn from each other’s experiences, challenge each other’s assumptions and comfort zones, and affirm each other’s value as members of the team.”

Here are some of my favorite discussion questions:

Give one word to describe your service experience.
How did you make a difference today?
What role does the organization play in the community?
How did our service affect the people/organization being served?
What did you learn about the organization and the population they serve?
In what ways were our stereotypes and assumptions challenged?
Now what?

With service learning it’s important to remember that the service shouldn’t end when you leave the organization. Inspire people to serve more by prompting them with “Now What?”, what are the big and small way to continue on this mission. Anything from advocating, donating, and serving are of course amazing but even simple things like smiling at strangers or being mindful of your own trash can carry on the mission.

The epiphany of finding value in service only happens however when we serve with only the intent of giving back, not because it’s a requirement or we get some benefit out of it.

Advocacy and service go hand in hand in my eyes - and I see them as equivalents to civic duties like voting. The only way to make our communities and neighborhoods better is by standing up and doing something about it. It never feels like work when it's something you believe in and I think that's half the reason why I serve so much. Giving becomes second nature after some practice and you eventually realize for yourself that no such thing as small service -- everything you do has an impact on someone other than yourself and that's huge. Furthermore, when we serve with the understanding of how social issues cause these problems we can better understand how and why things like these happen and heck, perhaps we can even find a solution when looking through a reflective lens. Giving back gives back to yourself and your soul too- humble yourself, check your privilege and above all else always be kind you never know what doors may open or how it may make you feel.

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