Does volunteering look good on an application? How many hours of volunteer work should I d0? What type of volunteering do colleges look for? These are questions often asked when the goal is to “look good” on a resume or college application. But how do you determine what “looks good” for each college? It’s an impossible task and a moving target that changes every year. As such, I’d like to propose a different goal for volunteering: to inspire gratitude.
“Tikkun Olam”, which literally translates to “repairing the world” is one of the values in the Jewish religion that shaped who and how I am. It’s about making a difference and recognizing that our role goes beyond the responsibility of ourselves to how we contribute to the welfare of society as a whole. And gratitude goes hand in hand with this value. It’s hard not to feel grateful about what you have when you are helping others who are less fortunate. Not to mention, that when you volunteer because you want to, or because the event or the cause is meaningful to you, it makes a difference in both the lives of the people in organization, and our own lives as well.
As students write their community-themed essays, it is heartwarming to hear how they are affected by these experiences and what it means to them. A student who volunteered making 700 burritos for homeless people and was strongly impacted by how much more diverse and complicated the issue is, affecting everyone from children to working adults to high school students. Another student who volunteered to teach refugees English and saw herself in them and felt immense gratitude for all she had experienced and accomplished, including the opportunity to give back.
I recently volunteered for a program to help Ukrainian students with their college essays. My student was amazing. She was accomplished, compassionate, intelligent and super adorable. Her resume read like that of a graduate student and she had huge goals. But besides that, she was so immensely grateful for the support and it reminded me how fortunate I am to be able to easily provide it. Gratitude begets gratitude, and so much more.
In this month of Thanksgiving, we set aside an entire holiday dedicated to being grateful. Imagine the effects of continuing to practice gratitude each day throughout the year, how amazing would that be?