Community Service: Take Time To Help Others!

As a college student and even as a professional, giving back to the community is an important aspect to have in your life. Taking time to help others, volunteer and be with other people provides you with something to look forward to, an opportunity to help others and meet other people. Taking time to help may be time consuming but can have benefits in the end.

During my college years, I'll admit I didn't take as much time to help out the community but was grateful when I did during my senior year. For a class, I had to interact with a service project and I had the opportunity to teach elementary school kids how to play sports. I hadn't done anything like this for a while but was glad I did.

Each week, the kids started to warm up to everyone else in the group and it was easy to tell they looked forward to us coming on a weekly basis. It meant a lot to these children that these "big college kids" were coming each week to spend time with them and playing games with them too. Even when I was done with what I needed to do for my class, I still volunteered because I enjoyed interacting with a different group of people and felt like I was giving back. It reminded me of what how I felt whenever someone older would pay attention and spend time to me and it felt good to remember where I came from.

Even after my college years were over, I found a way to give back to the community through my photography work. After taking pictures at a Solon High School football game one afternoon, I received a lot of positive feedback on the photos after I posted them up on Facebook and was asked if I could attend more games. I took the offer and was glad I did.

It had been many years since I really followed Solon High football, however, taking pictures at the games helps me interact and meet with a different group of people. During this time, I have received lots of positive feedback on the photos from the players, band members, parents and other people involved and looked forward to each coming week. I could tell the photos were appreciated and volunteering my time to do this has been worthwhile. It's provided me with another way for me to enjoy a hobby, have something to look forward to and interact with another group of people.

No matter where you are at in your life, take time to give back to the community; you never know what you might end up looking forward to and who you will meet.