From a standard required course to the most prestigious fraternity, college service requirements are close to matching academic fees as an unavoidable reality of the campus. 

The requirements vary depending on the class and the organization. It can range from the simple hour per week of Comm 102 to the demanding 25 hours per semester of Delta Tau Delta. In my opinion, all of these requirements are positive influences on students’ lives. Through community service requirements, helping others becomes a normal part of college life. It is no longer a task set apart from regular university duties. It also looks great on a resume. 

However, these requirements serve a higher purpose than simply giving students something else to do. It can help them grow in personal faith. In many religions, from Buddhism, to Christianity, to Islam and back to Judaism, community service is a central tenet. With all of these diverse paths of belief, a common theme appears: love for one’s fellow man. Not only does helping the community allow us to build resumes or repay Hammond’s support of the university, we are given a chance to keep one of the highest commandments of whatever our faith may be.

University students shouldn’t object when they hear a class or organization they are involved in calls for community service. The requirements will let them demonstrate the true depths of their faith and also allow students to receive credit for an otherwise normal part of being devout. 

So instead of frustration, feel joyful when you receive a new service requirement. You’ll have the opportunity to do good and bear witness to the lives of those less fortunate. Most of all, you’ll become a light in the dark for whoever you choose to serve, if only for a little while. 

For six dollars, you could give great aid to a homeless person. I went to the St. Tammany Parish Humane Society many times during my high school career. For a mere day of my time, I was able to give companionship in the forms of walks, smiles and attention to dozens of lonely animals. I would also help clean their kennels, ensuring they had a clean place to sleep and the kennel felt as much like a real home as it possibly could. 

Helping those animals in need was a rewarding use of time. Without service requirements from my school, I simply would have squandered it. But I urge you, my fellow students, to do the duty all your faiths command. Not to check off a list of requirements or to accumulate places on a resume, but to be a light in the dark lives of the less fortunate.