Volunteering your time and energy is a valuable and meaningful way to serve others and give back to your community. In addition to providing support for others, performing community service can be intrinsically rewarding and feel good! Be sure to include all type of volunteering hours in your resume. Remember, your colleges and recommenders will see this and it reflects positively on you!

If you are still looking for ways to become involved in your community (or searching for new volunteering endeavors) please visit the United Way's Volunteer Center at https://www.handsonasheville.org/ . Here, students can participate in a wide variety of community service efforts.

Examples of volunteering activities:

• Volunteering in a soup kitchen or homeless shelter

• Walking dogs or entertaining animals at your local animal shelter

• Environmental projects such as river clean up or local trail maintenance

• Mission trips, nationally or internationally, with an emphasis on serving others

Performing community service is not something a student should do just to build a resume or improve his/her college admissions chances. Serving others should be a life-long goal and, ultimately, will lead to more improved relationships and systems in our local community and beyond.