Service Opportunities

Learn how to get your service hours and give back to your community!

Katie Stegeman, Reporter

One of the most rewarding opportunities for Aquinas students is giving back to the community through service. Aquinas students are required to achieve goals of twenty to thirty hours. While service hours are needed as real credits for students, it is not a chore but a gift to serve the community and make it a better place. Serving has positively impacted Vice President of Key Club Anna Rhodus, “Service has turned me into the person I am today. It has made me put others before myself and has helped me make some of my closest friendships.” Numerous ways to serve are already available to students to begin their service hours for this school year! 

 

A perfect place for students to look for ways to serve is through their local parish. Parishes offer individual service opportunities such as getting involved in ministry, altar serving, or even helping lead the parish youth with sacrament preparation. An ideal way to get service hours is to get involved in a type of weekly or monthly event to get steady hours so as not to be rushed when the end of the year approaches. Simply calling or emailing your parish would open the door to chances of unique ways to serve your community. 

 

Students with a busy schedule could volunteer at TurnStyles because of its flexible hours. Students could work alongside Aquinas Theology teacher Mrs. Hilgers, as she can often be found volunteering there. TurnStyles always accepts new and experienced volunteers at any time during open hours, and they love to see Aquinas students help out!

 

Seniors Mary Kate Phelan and Abby Ballard smile with their star player at Team Soccer! and Photo courtesy of Suzanne Loomis.

Another way for students to involve themselves in service as well as get involved in an activity is to join Key Club. Key Club focuses on service and gives many chances for students to volunteer in various ways. Something unique about Key Club is that it focuses on service in the Corporal Works of Mercy which are: feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, clothing the naked, sheltering the homeless, caring for the sick, visiting those in prison, and burying the dead. Key Club opportunities include Team Soccer, which aids children with special needs to play soccer, cooking food at Ronald McDonald House, volunteering at Angels of Grace (an inner city daycare), and so much more! Key Club supervisor Ms. Dillingham knows the true effect of service on students’ hearts and minds, “We see the results of our service in real time and have fun in the process. Many of our former students develop a heart for service, and some even continue working for the very organizations they volunteered with in high school.” Key Club is a rewarding way for students to get involved and achieve service hours because of the immediate impact shown on those they have helped!