Environmental Studies major

I started doing community service in college on a whim. I wish I could say it was something grander, but the truth is I completed my first hour of service because I was looking for something to do on a Saturday afternoon, and feeding the homeless seemed no worse than the paper due on Monday. It certainly grew to be far more, and now I see it as nothing less than a calling.

I wound up spending the next year and half working with Homeless Outreach, first simply joining in on the Saturday outings and then running the group, organizing donation drives and forums. I joined the Spring Break Community Service trip to Chicago my senior year and learned about all the ways you can make a difference in your community, and all the hard work that needs to be done.

Volunteering opened my eyes up to all the problems that we must face in this day and age, but it also made me realize that solutions are possible. My service became an essential part of me, and now it is what I do for a living. Running the volunteer program at an animal shelter is hard and sometimes difficult work, but it is also the most rewarding thing I have ever done.

Whatever you do, whether it is caring for homeless people or animals, caring for mother earth or our souls, just do something. Do something that makes you feel connected to the world around you, that impacts the world around you, that betters the world around you. It may sound trite or old-fashioned, but I truly believe it is the duty of all us to give of ourselves in service. May it be your vocation or your vacation, but give and give well.