The end of high school signified many ends. From my classes to the feeling of having a family at school within my friend group, I have experienced the best of and will miss all that high school has given me. I also see that leaving high school will open many new potential beginnings. Sadly, service was not on the list of new beginnings. I thought after high school my involvement in community service would end. Little did I know that I would be completely wrong.
Currently, at SCU, I am happy to say that I am still involved with some types of community service activities. I found such activities through the Alpha Tau Omega Fraternity that just established here at Santa Clara University.
Rebuilding Together Service – Source: Cory Gong 2017
A few of the activities that I have participated in include: helping at the Aldersgate United Methodist Church (which happens to be the church I was raised in), aiding Rebuilding Together in their purpose to renovate deserving homes, and participating in Relay for Life which occurred on SCU campus.
All of these activities have taught me an important lesson: to know that everyone loves and needs everyone that matters. I know it sounds quite obvious, but in this day and age when we have all these highly advanced objects for our pleasure, I realized we tend to forget what is an authentic, meaningful connection and what isn’t.
These service events have opened up my mind to see how limiting my world has been with using my phone or computer. Sure these things are great and help us to progress individually, but how can we gain the true sense of what our needs and/or desires are without gaining knowledge on our communities more in-depth?
I guess the end of high school did signify the end of certain things: one in particular was the feeling of family and bond. This same idea of family was harder for me to grasp in college because one is always doing this or that, but through the service activities I endured, I gained a sense that my community is those who I serve. Those who I serve are the new beginnings I’ve been seeking.