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| Jasmyne Post ('21) |
This year, I have had the
pleasure of serving as the Service Chair for the McConnell Scholars. It has
been one of the most rewarding parts of my college career thus far and the
lessons that it has taught me about how others interact with the world are
priceless. One of the main things that I have noticed as Service Chair is that
scholars often have a hard time finding meaningful service opportunities for
themselves. I’ve realized that students able to navigate hoop after hoop to get
internships and scholarships, yet they find it exceedingly difficult to
register for a volunteer orientation. This trend is not exclusive to this
organization. I have been a member of several service organizations on campus
and the struggle people share in finding service that fits their interests and
schedule is great across the board. I have several theories as to the root of
this issue, but they can all be summed up by the reality that service is hard.
It can be hard to admit, but community
service is not comfortable. For those whose privilege has allowed them never to
have to attend a free ESL workshop or foodbank as a recipient of the service,
doing that service is not familiar. It requires that person to interact with
people that have drastically different lives than themselves and go against the
nature of many humans to stick with what they know. Empathy is a natural thing,
but it can be difficult to feel empathetic towards a person or situation that
one cannot relate to. Admitting to oneself or to others that a person does not
feel passionate about the service work they are doing is also hard. People are
often hard on themselves and their own character when they don’t like to do a
certain kind of service and it shuts them down. They give up on service because
they feel like a bad person for not feeling fulfilled or passionate about it. If
a person does not feel that they are cut out for service, they think that they
just don’t like service in general and don’t consider that they just haven’t
found the work that they love. One wouldn’t stop looking for career paths just
because they didn’t feel passionate about being a doctor, but people have not
been trained to look at service in the same way.
Service is also difficult because
if we are being honest, it is a hard thing to prioritize as a busy college
student. For people who don’t want to go into nonprofit administration or a
related field, service often seems like an unimportant part of the college
experience. It’s unfortunate but when building a resume, service work often
feels like an optional addition instead of a requirement. I would argue that
people with this mentality are limiting their own potential for growth. When a
person works with a nonprofit or a service organization they will be able to do
affect change in the organization in a greater capacity than with most
internships. Nonprofits are often understaffed so the connections one can make
with the faculty and the importance of the work they can do is often way above what
a person who works in an office with a full staff. Also, the real-world
experience that people who are interested in any field can receive through
service work is unmatched. For any career, meeting the people that your work
will affect will be a meaningful addition to your education.
Finally, service is difficult
because it can be lonely. Most involvements on campus involve finding friends
and relationship building with people who share one’s interests. For most
service opportunities, people often find themselves going into it alone.
Service work isn’t glamorous, and so if a person doesn’t have a partner in it
then the work that they do probably will not be recognized outside of the
organization. It can be difficult to care about things and prioritize them when
a person feels lonely in their fight.
There are ways to make some of
these difficult things easier. To make service less uncomfortable, practice it.
Service is much like public speaking. One must prepare themselves for it, maybe
develop a persona for it, and do it as often as possible to get good at it.
Making time for service can also be very simple. Service does not have to take
much time out of one’s week. Most organizations only ask for one to two hours a
week. Once a person gets through orientation for a service site, the process
becomes even easier. All it takes is showing up and doing what is asked. The
McConnell Scholarship’s motto is scholarship-leadership-service. Each of these
components, according to our requirements for good standing, has equal weight.
Our scholarship program has the potential do so much good with our service
requirement and I look forward to being the chair of this front for the
remainder of the year.
Jasmyne Post, of Philpot, Ky., is a sophomore McConnell Scholar at the University of Louisville, where she studies English and political science. She is a member of the Harlan Scholars Program.