EDITORIAL

Teen volunteers

Posted 7/16/15

School is out, summer is here and teenagers have gotten the volunteerism and community service bug.

It is easy to write off teenagers as lazy; they spend all their time on their phones or a …

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EDITORIAL

Teen volunteers

Posted

School is out, summer is here and teenagers have gotten the volunteerism and community service bug.

It is easy to write off teenagers as lazy; they spend all their time on their phones or a computer and don’t have many responsibilities. Think again.

Child Trends Data Bank, a nonprofit research center focusing on youth welfare, found that more than one-third of high school students volunteered at least once a month. Their study, published in September of last year, found that volunteerism among adolescents has actually been increasing since the early ’90s.

Between 1991 and 2012, 10th grade volunteerism went from 26.8 percent to 34.2 percent of students volunteering once a month or more; for 12th grade the percent went from 23.7 to 37.1 between 1991 and 2012. Oddly enough, according to the study from 2013, teens 16-19 were more likely than any other age group 35 and younger to volunteer their time.

Maybe it’s students getting their senior projects out of the way, or needing one more thing for their college résumés or maybe it’s students eager to feel a part of their community and to give back. Either way, teens are coming out in droves to help, hosting service projects or volunteering their time.

The Hendricken Summer Stage program volunteers decided to host a children’s book drive, encouraging students to give back to the community.

The books have a double purpose. First they will serve as the backdrop to the program’s latest play, set in a library, and then Summer Stage will be donating them to Books Are Wings. The non-profit distributes books all over the state to educational centers to promote literacy in children. In only three weeks the program has collected nearly 3,000 books.

Although some just brought what they could from home, others reached out to local libraries to see what they could offer or held mini collections of their own.

A few weeks ago students from grades as low as 5th grade volunteered their time as camp counselors for St. Peter’s Bible Camp.

Students involved in Catholic institutions aren’t the only ones trying to better themselves by making a difference.

Earlier this year, Chip McGair Vets graduation proficiency coordinator, said that around 40 percent of seniors throughout the city chose to do some form of community service or volunteerism for their senior project rather than the typical product-based project.

Sarah Dolan from Pilgrim High School hosted a pasta night to raise funds and awareness for the Alzheimer’s Association.

Samia Pratt from Vets did her project an entire year early to organize, host and direct the Scott Carlson Memorial Road Race that benefits the ALS Association.

The trend of community service is trickling down to even younger students. Just before Cedar Hill Elementary let out, Ryan Santo raised over $1,000 for the American Heart Association through Jump Rope for Heart.

Students can and have proven they care about their community, volunteering their time to see positive outcomes. Students now want to make a difference and are excited to be a part of that change.

As often as teenagers and younger students may seem to be without a care, many are putting in the effort to better their surroundings, and summer is the perfect time to lend a helping hand.

Comments

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  • Justanidiot

    Teens could always get a summer job with the city.

    ooops, I guess those were filled before they were advertised.

    Nevermind.

    Tuesday, July 21, 2015 Report this