Self-fulfillment is difficult to achieve. As a college student, I am bombarded daily with advertisements, products, people, and situations that promise me happiness in some form or another. Unfortunately, many people my age and beyond fall into these traps of temporary satisfaction, or as some say instant gratification. I can’t say I have been a continuously unhappy student -- quite the opposite actually. I have enjoyed my life, the highs and the lows, and I am eternally overjoyed and restored by the vision God has for me.
However, I have found a component of my life that was missing without me even realizing it and that is the act of servant hood. In my high school career, I was not presented with the need to or opportunities to volunteer very often. Aside from occasional instances at my church and in the community, I wouldn’t say that I was in the habit of providing community service.
My college, Seton Hall University and my scholarship the Martin Luther King Scholarship Association have completely changed that for me. As an incoming freshman, I was required to complete a minimum of 10 hours of community service in order to pass my “University Life Class.” I was excited by this requirement, unlike many of my fellow classmates. Seton Hall has an extraordinary Division of Volunteer Efforts, which serves as the bridge between willing students and volunteer activities in the surrounding areas. Furthermore, my organization MLKSA for short, requires each scholar to complete 20 hours minimum of service per semester through our weekly enrichment programs.
Through these two groups, I was actively completing roughly 5-7 hours a week of service alongside my school work and membership in campus organizations. Even after I had surpassed my mandated requirements, I still faithfully continued to attend the weekly programs. I loved it. On Wednesdays specifically, I would relish the fact that I got to spend the afternoon with third grade girls at a nearby elementary school, and then spend the evening playing bingo with nursing home residents. These days were long but left me overflowing with gratitude and humility for the blessings that surrounded me in my own life.
In a time of our lives when college students often follow the wrong path or fall into step with the wrong crowd, I was able to find the right ones. We currently have the reputation of being the most indebted generation of students ever, but no money is required to volunteer and make another person happy. Service is now a part of my weekly routine as much as going to the gym or having dinner with friends is. I believe God sent me to Seton Hall and the Martin Luther King Scholarship Association to fulfill my duty as a Christian to serve others. I have been so blessed and I will pass on my gratitude and compassion. I have learned so much about the people we have helped and so much about myself. I now seek out as many opportunities as possible to volunteer, and have been granted to honor of being the co-chairperson for MLKSA’s afterschool mentorship program this upcoming academic year. I am excited to change both my life and the life of each girl in the program.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said,
"Everybody can be great. Because anybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve.... You don't have to know the second theory of thermodynamics in physics to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love."
An ideal that I always admired, but now truly understand. I strongly urge everyone to find something they love to do, and someone they love to serve, because the gratification is long lasting and very addictive.
