Heart or Height? Let’s Think Critically About Community Service

By Elise Sze |

Chiu

Community outreach is essentially based on the idea of lending a helping hand into society and trying to make it a more empathetic place. ere is an extensive range of services that support the implicit needs of every community, including health, well-being, representation, and advocacy. e term “community service” su uses the CIS hallways. At our school, it is mandatory to participate in services for the community’s social welfare. Members of the community have been supporting them in distinctive ways: starting initiatives that strive to connect communities or addressing and raising awareness for prevalent issues. However, some may criticize that this is mainly based on extrinsic motivation. In Harvard’s guidebook Turning the Tide II, an ethical guide to college admissions, it was stated that high school students are “caught up in a kind of community service Olympics, a contest to see who can get an edge in their applications by tackling the most formidable problem”.

e ethos of community service is rooted in the idea of voluntarily participating in them for the greater good of others, which implies intrinsic motivation for those who take part in it. However, community members can be spread thin, participating in their own form of “community service Olympics”. ere is a general myth that spending hundreds of hours on community outreach allows them to discover golden renown. ere isn’t a problem that one wants to do anything to get into a college, neither is doing something for personal growth. Instead, consider the advice from the Turning the Tide II guide: “What makes service meaningful and what matters to the deans is whether service is chosen based on authentic interest and is immersive, meaningful, and sustained.”

In this Olympic race, people need to slow down and appreciate the process. is provides opportunities for community members to explore what they’re truly passionate about. It is vital for individuals to understand how to empathize with members from di erent communities. Starting by exploring the di erences between yourself and what shapes others through daily interactions, followed by nding the similarities that you share with them. Additionally, confront your natural inclination because you shouldn’t discriminate against others. A er understanding these steps, it’s important to note that developing this skill requires commitment. I spoke to Justin Kim from KickAction and he emphasized the four steps. “ e rst and foremost priority is looking at the needs of the community.” In the process of starting his community service, “I overcame that barrier of being scared that people wouldn’t want to join in on my classes”. He did so by “talking with the communities I wanted to empower in the rst place… asking them, talking to them as humans about their day to day experiences and what they think about a martial arts program.”

Once community members have an understanding of which community they are empathetic towards, they would need to devote valuable time, e ort, and energy. When “walking a mile in someone else’s shoes’’, they understand their perspectives and how they can best support the underrepresented or underprivileged groups. e meaning of privileged is having the resources that others do not have to get ahead in life. Being underprivileged leads to being underrepresented, which is not having proportional representation. We can use our privilege to assist them.

Ultimately, community outreach success is not dependent on whether or not you are intrinsically or extrinsically motivated. What’s most bene cial is being devoted to serving the community and using passion to generate sustained impact.

By Charlize Chung | Illustrations by Nikki Russell, as published in the “Dork Diaries” series | Layout by Maegan Wang