February 25, 2009 05:25 pm
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CONNEAUT — The average high school student typically has a busy schedule. Not only is it crucial for students to keep up their grades; they also need to focus on athletics, extra-curricular activities, part-time jobs and household responsibilities. In addition to this, hard-working seniors are neck-deep in tedious college and scholarship applications.
As if teen-age life is not stressful enough, Conneaut High School packs on a required 25 hours of community service for students as a requirement before they can graduate. These hours can be obtained between the summer before freshman year and graduation. The community service hours can be performed in various forms, mainly based on a student’s interest.
From cleaning up trash at a local park to officiating little league baseball games, there are many opportunities for students to get involved in community service. CHS senior D.J. Natto has obtained his community service hours by being a ball runner at high school soccer games, working at the CHS concession stand and working at a local haunted house.
“The good part about doing community service is watching your city sparkle, seeing happy faces, and raising others’ self-esteem,” Natto said. “The only bad part about community service is that you’re not getting paid for your efforts, now that money is everything with our worsening economy.”
Katie Tylman, also a high school senior, obtained most of her hours by spending her summers working as an instructor at the Lions Club Safety Town. “The best part is the feeling that you’re giving back to your community and helping people out,” she said.
Senior Ashley Emery had similar thoughts. “You get to help others and be a part of the community,” she said of the benefits of performing community service. Emery has accumulated her community service hours by working at the Conneaut Community Center art camps, instructing children at Safety Town, working at Cabrini Hall fish dinners, being a part of the National Honor Society blood drive, and helping Toys for Tots in the YOUth LEADERship program.
Senior Autumn Heisler has a different perspective on the benefits of community service. Involved in various service opportunities, including helping out at the Animal Protective League and instructing children at a local basketball clinic, she thinks it gives students the valuable opportunity to learn more about themselves. “Aside from benefiting the community, community service is helpful when it comes to finding your likes, dislikes, strengths and weaknesses,” Heisler commented. “For example, I learned from working at Safety Town that I do not like working with kids.”
Although Conneaut High School students may be pressed for time in their daily lives, most agree that it is worth it to perform community service hours. Many went well beyond the 25 required hours, volunteering their own time to make Conneaut a better place. Not only is the work rewarding them with the ability to graduate, it is also an opportunity to reward themselves with the feeling of giving back to the community of Conneaut that has served them so well.
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