Service Becomes Part Of School Programs

Officials Say Volunteerism Teaches Service

Stokes Wenzler, Deca vice president, dumps donated money into the bucket Friday held by club president Meredith Breach, both seniors at Rogers High School. Club members held buckets in the school’s corridors to raise $1,000 in a minute. The donated money goes to the Make-A-Wish
Stokes Wenzler, Deca vice president, dumps donated money into the bucket Friday held by club president Meredith Breach, both seniors at Rogers High School. Club members held buckets in the school’s corridors to raise $1,000 in a minute. The donated money goes to the Make-A-Wish

At A Glance

Get Involved

The Rogers Teen Action and Support Center organizes youth service projects to help students meet requirements for volunteer service. A list of upcoming service opportunities organized through the nonprofit agency is listed on their website at www.teenaction.org.

Source: Staff Report

— College applications, scholarships, internships and job applications often ask for a student’s volunteer experiences.

Volunteer projects can be a lot of work, said Meredith Breach, a senior at Rogers High School. Breach, president of the school’s Deca club spent part of her summer working on a student-led Make-A-Wish Foundation campaign. Deca, a business club, partners with Make-A-Wish, and each year the school club grants a child’s wish.

Sometimes it’s hard, but when the work is over, the school assembly is held and a child gets his or her wish, it is a good feeling, Breach said.

“When you see the look on their face it’s like, ‘Oh my gosh.’ I want to do it every day for a billion children for the rest of my life,” she said.

College officials like to see the volunteer hours on a resume. Deca values volunteerism, and chapters compete to reach summit level recognition, but giving back to the community that helped her grow up is also important, Breach said.

“We so often, especially teenagers, don’t see the big picture. We’re so focused on what is going on in our lives,” Breach said.

Students volunteer to fulfill community service components of scholarships, to fill out their graduate profile and sometimes because of probation or rehab. Above all, school administrators hope they learn through leadership.

Volunteerism is the right thing to do, said Karen Steen, Heritage High principal. Students need the credits, but the experience teaches compassion and gets students involved in the community.

“It may be part of our culture, yes, but it is more a part of our character,” Steen said.

A graduate profile used at both Rogers high schools allows students to document their service. When the New Tech High School opens in 2014, a community service component will be included, said Lance Arbuckle, who was selected as principal for the new school.

Colleges are looking for students who not only know how to study, but those who can relate to others and who will get out of their dorm room and do things, said Sharon Schrantz, scholarships coordinator for the Rogers School District.

“It’s not just their grades and their test scores anymore. It’s a well-rounded student,” Schrantz said.

Merit-based scholarships ask for community service or leadership experience and a single area of volunteer service, instead of variety of experience, can show a student’s commitment to a particular career or area of study, Schrantz said. A volunteer resume can tip the scales for students who apply for need-based scholarships.

“Just something that shows a little umpf,” she said.

Schools make an effort to provide opportunities for students, said Brig Caldwell, student relations coordinator at Heritage High School.

A call for student volunteers resulted in workers clearing 300 bags of leaves from 20 yards around the school. Students volunteer individually, and through the Teen Action and Support Center, clubs and sports, Caldwell said. Eventually, he hopes to have an in-house website to point students to volunteer opportunities.

Students can make networking connections to local organizations and businesses through helping. A volunteer project can break down barriers as students work together, and teach students, who may not lift a finger at home, to find out what it’s like to help someone else, he said.

“I just know that it works,” Caldwell said.

Link Crew, an orientation program at the high schools, uses student volunteers to help freshmen tour the school, then links the freshmen with an upperclassman to answer their questions throughout the year.

“It makes the school better when kids are helping kids,” said Carlton Efurd, counselor and Link Crew coordinator at Rogers High School.

Sports team help out too. Efurd is also cross country coach at Rogers High. His team volunteers to pull together cross country meets on the elementary level, he said, but he hopes students put in volunteer hours because they care.

“It’s good for them to not just be all about me,” Efurd said.

There are lots of ways to volunteer, said Bryan Kinzer, president of the Regions Student Bank Board at Rogers High School.

Last week during a fundraiser for Mercy Health System, Kinzer and 15 other bank board members parked cars, then donated $700 in tips to the cause.

Not all needs can be handled through a job, the high school senior said. Sometimes helping out can be a small thing, but it is still needed.

“It’s important to volunteer because it adds up,” Kinzer said.

Upcoming Events