Name: Patrick Thomas Scanlon
From: North Reading, Massachusetts
Votes: 0
Pat Scanlon
3/19/18
Volunteerism
scholarship
Community service is unpaid voluntary work intended to help people in a
particular area. The idea of mandatory volunteerism involves high
school students to help their community. I believe that volunteer
work is beneficial towards students and the community. It gives the
youth a chance to build character and get involved in the area.
Volunteerism is a good requirement for high school students
graduation. Many students would not volunteer if it was not a
requirement to graduate. It gives students who would not normally
volunteer a new pathway to experiences and ideas that they may have
never known. In a way, if it was not a requirement, some students
would miss a chance to build character and get involved in the
community. Therefore, with volunteerism required to graduate high
school, students can help out and experience what it is like to give
back to the community. It provides them an opportunity to open new
doors and make new connections with people.
My community service experience as a whole involved one main
volunteer opportunity. I helped out during North Reading youth golf
clinics after school and during the weekends. The clinic was a free
opportunity for kids to learn the sport of golf. Kids ages 8-12 who
wanted to improve or learn the sport of golf, came to Hillview golf
course after school and occasionally on the weekends. I helped
kids learn to swing the club properly and taught them the basic rules
of golf. We split them up into groups by skill level and worked with
the kids, assisted them in drills, and helped with their technique
and form. I found this to be very beneficial to myself. I enjoyed
helping the younger kids to develop the future of North Reading golf.
In fact, I enjoyed this service so much that I did fifteen hours
complete my community service hours. This was a great experience
because I enjoyed making an impact on the youth. It was a good time
to support the youth program and be engaged with many of the young
kids in town.
My community service was packed with fun, and learning. I found it to be
a great experience for myself and even made a connection along the
way. During the youth golf Clinic, I came across a kid named Ryan. He
was 9 years old and was a funny kid. At first we would just have fun
and goof around during the beginning of the clinic. As it went on,
Ryan learned quickly about the form and technique that it takes to be
a good golfer. After working with Ryan for a while, he seemed ready
to be put to test. At the last 10 minutes of the clinic, myself and a
couple other coaches took some of the kids and brought them onto the
course. Ryan did awesome and was doing everything I taught him.
It was a great feeling to have a kid look up to me. I loved working
with Ryan after school and seeing him happy. He always was smiling
and made me realize that I should focus on just having fun sometimes.
Community Service is a great way to find new pathways and help out with the
community. I found my experience to compliment my personal
characteristics. I realized that sometimes I just got to have fun
with what I do. Many students would not volunteer if it was not
a requirement to graduate. It gives students who would not normally
volunteer a new pathway to experiences and ideas that they may have
never known. Overall, by helping the community I gained
self-awareness and realized that volunteering is more than just
helping out the community.
