To the Class of 2019: I know most of you are probably already overwhelmed with college — the new classes, making friends and going to student organization meetings when all you really want to do is take a nap.
But despite your natural desire to sleep in, I want to encourage each and every one of you to show up — both physically and mentally — to the Freshman Day of Service and Convocation on Saturday, September 12. If you can do that, you could learn what types of service you like best and potentially shape a college career that’s centered on giving back.
This day is a one-of-a-kind experience for your class. Few other colleges or universities bring together the entire Freshmen Class to engage in service, and for GW students it’s a unique and distinct way to become acquainted with the rest of the Class of 2019.
Every fall, Freshman Day of Service has been an integral part of my own GW experience. My freshman year it was the first major event I attended, and for the next years I helped support the event in numerous ways. Now, I’ve spent the last summer planning the entire thing.
And while it’s a great way to start off the school year, Freshman Day of Service is even more important in shaping your connection to service on campus.
Before coming to GW, I loved working with kids and was always passionate about education. But it was my own experience volunteering at a public school on my Freshman Day of Service that inspired me do more. For three academic years I volunteered with Jumpstart, a literacy program on campus, to work with low-income preschools in the city. It’s been an instrumental part of my college experience and I can’t imagine my time here without it.
Thanks to Jumpstart, I even got to serve alongside President Barack Obama and his family on the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service this year.
While I can’t promise all of you will get to hang out and serve with the President, I can promise that getting involved in community service at GW will change your college experience.
If any of you are like me, you never got to do quite as much service, or the type of service you enjoy, in high school because your options were limited. In D.C. the options are so numerous you may find that you have difficulty figuring out where to start.
That’s why we want Freshman Day of Service to be about more than just the service project you complete. You may find that weeding school gardens, filming veterans’ stories or removing trash from the banks of the Anacostia River is a perfect fit for your interests. Or you may find you don’t enjoy that type of project at all.
Either way, by showing up and being present, you will learn something about yourself and your interests — a very important component of engaging in community service over these next four years.
Sure, it may be difficult to wake up early, show up energized and ready to work on a service project. But there’s no better way to get to know the people who live next door than to pull weeds or paint together. Doing something important with others is the best way to bond with them — and it makes you feel good, too.
If you don’t show up to Freshman Day of Service or aren’t engaged when you get there, you’ll miss out on a real and important chance to give back to the community that you will call home for the next few years. You’ll also miss out on the chance to learn more about the world outside Foggy Bottom and Foxhall. And even worse, you’ll likely rob yourself of the chance to discover what types of community service you enjoy.
Service has gotten me far at GW and it can take you places, too. You will meet new people, you will find out what you’re good at, and you will make a lasting impact on a community with so many needs.
So wake up next Saturday. I promise it will be worth it.
Jonah Lewis, a senior double-majoring in sociology and political science, is a Hatchet columnist and the Freshman Day of Service Student Coordinator within the Center for Civic Engagement and Public Service.
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