A Generation of Reaching Out: College Students’ Volunteering

By Ellen Kennedy

Throughout her four year career at Stonehill College, Samantha Dakoulas has had the opportunity to study across the pond in Belgium and venture to the remote African island country of Madagascar.

For her last spring break, Dakoulas felt the urge to travel again. This time though, it wouldn’t be for studying or leisure: it would be to volunteer to help others.

Dakoulas isn’t the only college student who traded in leisure and late nights for helping others. According to Break Away, a national non-profit organization that helps college student organize service trips, more than 30,000 students opted for community service instead of a traditional spring break trip.

Volunteering among college students in general is also on the rise. The Corporation for National and Community Service has reported that the number of college students volunteering has increased 20 percent between 2002 and 2005. The study also found that many colleges, including college courses, have made volunteer service mandatory.

The group says that incidents such as the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and Hurricane Katrina have spawned a new generation in community service.

“One bright spot coming out of the 9/11 tragedy is a surge of interest by college students in serving their community," said Steve Goldsmith, the chairman of the Board of the Corporation. “This rise in college student volunteering and the growing campus support for service are hopeful signs for the future of civic involvement in America.”

Dakoulas, along with approximately 20 other Stonehill students, traveled to the South American country of Peru for a week of volunteering and community outreach. The trip was part of H.O.P.E., a Stonehill alternative spring break program which stands for “Honoring our neighbor, Organizing for Justice, Peace, Encountering God.”

Organized through campus ministry at Stonehill, student leaders work with campus ministers to coordinate the program. Preparations for spring break begin at the beginning of the fall semester.

This spring, 115 students and a dozen faculty, staff and administrators traveled to Honduras, the Dominican Republic, the gulf coast, New Orleans, Tennessee, and New York through H.O.P.E. The program is just one part of Stonehill’s wide range of volunteer opportunities, which include first-year volunteer programs and Into the Streets, Stonehill’s community service program that saw more than 51,000 hours of community service put in during the 2007-08 school year.

"Service permeates Stonehill and the College strongly believes in providing all students with an education that requires them to take responsibility for the world outside these walls," said Nuala Boyle, director of community service & volunteerism at Stonehill.

Dakoulas, who volunteered at least three hours a week in high school and volunteered all four years at Stonehill, said traveling to Peru was a “perfect fit” for her future plans.

Dakoulas and her group traveled to Canto Grande, a city outside the capital city of Lima. Residents of the beautiful desert community surrounded by mountains do not have much, but most people had electricity and running water.

A typical day for the volunteers began around 7 a.m. After a group breakfast, students worked a full day together at two local schools, playing with children and working to maintain the schools’ facilities.

“The friendships I made with both the people in the group and the people I met there was one of the best parts of the whole experience,” Dakoulas said.

The Corporation hopes to have the number of student volunteers up to five million by 2010. The new generation of college-aged volunteers can have lasting benefits, both personal and societal.

“The tragic events of the last few years coupled with growing university and K-12 support for volunteering and service-learning have translated into more college students mentoring, tutoring, and engaging in their community in ways that could produce a lifetime habit,” Goldsmith said.

Dakoulas, who hopes to work in developing countries after college, said she can use this experience as a starting point to her career goal. Her only regret is that she can’t participate in another H.O.P.E. trip again.

“I wish I wasn’t a senior so I could go next year,” Dakoulas said.