The thought of more

As more and more people apply to new schools to continue their academic life, lots are wondering what they can do to stand out; here are some local volunteer opportunities to look into

by Molly Calhoun

Today’s society progresses and people are expressing themselves more and more. However , not everyone agrees with these choices. It is important to create more safe spaces throughout our lives for people to feel included and welcomed. As Sarah Payn , freshman, stated, “It’s important because you can’t always learn properly when not safe.” The first volunteer opportunity is titled “Out-Of-Closet-Cards”, provided by DoSomething’s website. Their goal is to distribute cards throughout America to teachers in order to make more welcoming places for the young people of today. So, what is on these cards? It’s really not strict when it comes to it: a good design with rainbow colors possibly or even different flag colors. A good title is a great thing as well, just anything that allows for people to have a glance at it and know that they are safe there.

Every day, hate crimes are committed, and every day many of these go without notice and leave those close to the victim in pain. These stories of victims need to be shared, and justice needs to be served. The volunteers at DoSomething Organization want something done. They have a goal of 3,000 graphics and stories of victims to combat the media’s biased coverage. Your job would be to post victims’ names, photos, and stories to your social media account to spread the word. It’s important to let these victims’ stories be known because many people are unaware of the severity of these crimes nowadays. Sarah Squire, freshman, also stated that it’s important “...because if the news does not get out, the cycle can repeat once again be cause little is known about the crimes themselves.”

According to the IBL News website, at least 771 million people today lack basic literacy skills. Whether it be money and resource issues or that lack of urge to learn, it is definitely a problem for today’s society. In order to inspire the upcoming generations, the team at Dosomething has proposed pop-art bookmark-making in order to influence people to learn. The idea consists of creating a fun popart bookmark and sticking it in an old book to donate to a local elementary school. They are leaning towards the idea of that pop art you make based on literature and simple subjects that children could understand. It’s important for people to learn to read as today’s society practically revolves around texts and literature, as well as the fact that Ayah Hasan and Sage Anastasia, freshmen, have stated: “It’s important to help get jobs in the future.”