Volunteering is a hobby that can be super beneficial and rewarding, especially to high school students. I spend a lot of my free time volunteering at many different places and organizations. Many schools, churches, events, summer camps, shelters, etc., offer all sorts of volunteer opportunities.

One reason I enjoy volunteering is because of its large impact on the community around us. Volunteering makes me feel like a much better person because I am giving back to my community. One of the main things I do to volunteer is working in a church nursery made for single struggling mothers with infants (all the way up to three years old). I do things like feeding the babies, rocking them to sleep, organizing their folders, and keeping the babies entertained. Helping out there not only makes me happy, but it has an impact on the people I help and their family’s lives. Because I’ve been doing this for a year and a half, I’ve become really close with some of the babies and teachers there. I got to see some babies come in without being able to sit up on their own, all the way to them being able to run around and communicate.

Another reason that volunteering can benefit someone is because of the volunteer hours you can earn. Colleges offer many scholarships that you can achieve just by volunteering and recording it. This can save you lots of money for college. For example, if you’re planning on attending a college in Florida, doing the Bright Futures Scholarship is a good idea. By doing only 100 hours of community service, you can earn a $5,000 scholarship to a Florida college.

Volunteering can just be something fun that benefits you and your community in many ways.