by Jackie Seale ’27
March 4, 2024
USN is unusual among it peer schools in that it does not require, and has never required, students to participate in community service activities. Although the subject has come up among administration, it’s not something the school is planning on implementing any time soon. There could be advantages to requiring community service for students, but forcing students to volunteer in the community might be a bad idea.
Requiring community service could be beneficial for students. Research indicates that helping others in one’s community is beneficial to personal growth, mental health, and networking. Alongside this, volunteering is incredibly helpful to the community in general, and can help improve things like food supplies, community spaces, and schools.
Of course, not everyone participates in community service if they aren’t required to, which could be a good reason to make volunteering mandatory. USN could potentially align itself with other schools in Nashville that have a requirement by mandating community service.
Jeff Edmonds, the assistant head of high school for academic affairs, shared that opportunities currently exist for students who choose to volunteer and suggested that a requirement wouldn’t be the best route for USN.
“I think we feel like we create a ton of options for that,” Edmonds said. “Requiring it is just adding one more thing on top of student schedules. [Students] may already be doing it, say, outside of work or school.”
Simon Fox ‘24, a student involved in the Habitat for Humanity club at USN, wrote in an email that volunteering is beneficial to students, but that it shouldn’t be required.
“I’m a proponent of community service, but not on a compulsory basis,” Fox wrote.“I think much of the benefit that comes from doing such work is that it’s voluntary. And that would be lost if it became a requirement.”
Director of High School Service Learning Mike Jones is more supportive of a community service requirement. Jones believes that there should be a requirement, but with flexibility in the amount and locations.
“Absolutely. Students should do something. We’ve got to help people, but not using a specific number of hours,” Jones said.
Jones suggested that college applications drive students to volunteer, but that shouldn’t be the only reason they do it.
However, Jones worried about what a lack of community service requirements means for USN’s optics.
“How do we look as a school if we aren’t involved?” Jones asked.
Although community service is not required for graduation, there are many existing opportunities at USN to help the Nashville community. Jones cited organizations such as Community Service Organization, Community Service Day, Urban Housing, Habitat for Humanity, Brighter Days, and TESOL tutoring. According to Jones, most of those aforementioned groups are student-initiated, and faculty simply facilitate their activities.
Edmonds agreed with that characterization.
“We try to be student-led in this approach,” Edmonds said.
Jones also mentioned that the six-day TIGERS rotation was implemented just before the pandemic, eliminating some consistent opportunities for students to volunteer off-campus on specific days. This schedule change is one reason that many organized service activities did not resume after the pandemic.
Edmonds agrees with this, saying that although the pandemic affected USN’s ability to keep certain programs going, the school is working hard to bring back options for students that are not currently available.
“Coming out of COVID, we’ve had to kind of rebuild those opportunities,” Edmonds said.
Of course, a big reason that students complete community service is because it seems to look good on college applications. Patrick Gladstone, assistant director of college counseling, cautions that community service shouldn’t be done purely for the purpose of building a resume. He expressed that the overall impact and breadth of one’s community service, rather than simple participation, is what leaves an impression.
“The quality of commitment to community service is the important piece,” Gladstone said. “Compare one two-hour community service experience versus a sustained commitment to a project over a longer period of time that’s trying to get at the root cause of an issue that that service is trying to solve.”
Gladstone also says that participating in community service is highly beneficial for students.
“For their own wellbeing, and the wellbeing of the community they’re part of, I think students should participate in sustained community service,” Gladstone said.
Gladstone disclosed that colleges really aren’t “getting in the weeds” about the amount of community service students are completing. Gladstone also discussed what a robust experience with community service would look like.
“A student that sees a need in their community…they have taken time to research reasons why that need exists, getting to the root of the issue, taking time to figure out who the issue impacts, getting to know those that they are serving with, and trying to make systemic-level change or policy-level change,” he said. “Of course, that’s great for college, but I think more importantly that’s good for the whole community, and that’s good for that individual’s growth.”
On February 7, USN participated in Community Action Day, an annual event that includes a guest speaker presentation and about four hours allocated to student volunteering at various sites around Nashville. The Community Action Day team sent an email to high school students that included a list of organizations in the Nashville community. They urged everyone to send emails to these organizations, and to get involved and volunteer after Community Action Day.
Community Action Day co-chairs Binyam Dunne ‘26, Nick Venable ‘24, Gidgie Bass ‘24, and Asauda Radford ‘25 briefed students on this year’s theme and expectations during Assembly on Tuesday, January 30. (via the Peabody Press)
Numerous benefits come with having students volunteer, but mandating students to participate in service could potentially up their workload and deteriorate their experience. Some expressed that students shouldn’t be volunteering for the sole purpose of padding résumés and applications, but rather, for their own wellbeing and to help other people.
