Community Service: Selfless or Selfish?

CAROLINE REN
Editor In Chief

While AHS has branches of international service clubs such as Key, Leo and Interact, it is also home to clubs unique to the campus. A concern of some is that students join these clubs merely to present a constructed facade for college admissions.

“People join clubs to have something to put on their college applications, since everyone else is doing it too,” junior Red Cross member Edwin Cheung said.

Many service club members attribute their reasons for joining to other aspects, such as social reasons.

“College apps may have influenced me a little bit but I really tried out for the members in the club,” junior Leo member Mark Yue said. “I came into high school as a shy kid who didn’t really know many people so I tried for a service club as a way to break out of my shell.”

However, some believe that social purposes detract from the true value of a service club.

“I think over the years that I’ve been at AHS the word ‘volunteer’ has been distorted and it’s become a label,” junior Las Moras member Macy Chung said. “Your level of popularity at this school solely depends on which service club you are in or what ‘connections’ you have and clubs are becoming more and more superficial.”

For admissions officers, the decision is beyond a student’s having just completed a quantity of community service hours.

“Community service shouldn’t be about ticking off a box,” Dean of Admission and Financial Aid at Wesleyan University Nancy Hargrave Meislahn said, according to the New York Times. “What we’re looking at is, what is the student doing with his or her time? And part of that, we’d hope, is that they show some form of engagement toward the community at large.”

To current high school teachers, the motivation to volunteer is not as selfless as it may seem.

“Students join service clubs because they believe it helps them get into college, and colleges do take those things into consideration, but not as much as students think they do,” Kaibigan adviser Ron Matossian said. “I don’t think students really enjoy helping the community; it’s not that big of a deal to them. They just like hanging out with their friends at services.”

Despite a more cynical view, service club members express their genuine love of volunteer work.

“College applications did affect my decision to join a service. However, I didn’t just join to have it on my college applications, but to give back to the community,” senior Campus member Audrey Chan said.

Additionally, with the 10 service clubs at AHS, students must decide which one best fits their interests and personalities. Some are attracted by the general atmosphere and friendly feeling.

“I picked Leo Service Club for the fact that it is known to be a family, and after I made it, I wasn’t disappointed!” Yue said.

Others find out about specific clubs by word of mouth from friends and peers.

Besides the positive elements of volunteer work, there are some aspects of service clubs that members feel could be improved upon.

“[We should have] fewer hours,” sophomore Interact member Sharleen Mock said. “The amount of hours one has to complete seems a little far-fetched.”