Lonely as a Clud ;)

         The gap between community service in high school and community service in college is widening faster than ever before.  Most students who volunteer as seniors in high school lose momentum when it comes to volunteering in college, according to an article in the Journal of Higher Education.        

         According to Helen Marks, who wrote the article “Community Service in the Transition:  Shifts and Continuities in Participation from High School to College,” high school seniors in 2000 reported record levels of community services participation.  However, Marks said that only 24 percent of those involved high school seniors continued to participate once they got to college, a huge decrease.  He also said that for most students, community service isn’t driven by a personal choice so much as circumstances they are in or clubs they have joined that require it for membership. 

         However, while Marks said that community service rates in college students are down significantly, there is evidence available that disputes his claims.  A report by the National Corporation for Community Services published in 2006, called “College Students Helping America,” said that the number of college kids across the nation who volunteer has grown significantly.

         The National Corporation for Community Services said that the number of college students who devote their time to their communities has grown by 600,000 from 2002 to 2005.  They also said that the number of student volunteers is more than double that of adult volunteers, making college students much more devoted than that of the general adult population in America.

         So what is the motivation to get involved in the community?

         30 percent of college students who volunteer while attending college do so because they valued becoming leaders in the community.  22 percent of student volunteers said that they volunteered for student service learning in the classroom, according to a journal article by Susan Jones wrote titled “Understanding Patterns of Commitment; Student Motivation for Community Service Involvement.”