Why I Volunteer in Nonprofits as a Bustling College Student

by Samantha Campbell

If you’ve read my introductory post on the 50/50 Leadership blog, you would know that I became a volunteer for a few nonprofits following my high school graduation in 2019. However, you might be wondering why I continue to be involved as a full-time college freshman since it’s commonly known that college students are strapped for time and hypothetically that time could be used for my own leisure.

In high school I thought I hated community service. During the first half of high school, I was part of an upward bound program that’s relatively large in the nonprofit sphere. While I did enjoy the summer overnight trips much of my time there was spent wishing I could quit and part of it had to do with our community service requirements. Every month we’d embark on a field trip and oftentimes this entailed doing community service for a public park or community center. I never had much interest in anything outside of the arts and since these events never took place inside my community, I felt detached and uninterested.

Although I did end up quitting my junior year, I still believed community service was not my forte for a while. It wasn’t until I signed on to be a volunteer at three arts nonprofits during my gap year that I realized I hadn’t been in the right settings. One of the first things I did after graduation was become a volunteer at the Bob Baker Marionette Theater and for the first time in many years, I felt that I had found a second home. I became involved in any way that I could: staying on designated volunteer days to help paint, running the box office and hosting events, and even tagged along to help promote their booth at LA Comic Con in 2019.

When I was not there, I could often be found on Inner City Arts campus. I did not know if I would mesh well with children, but I was pleasantly surprised at the results. During my ten months on campus, I had students ask for help with projects, seek feedback, and enjoy my company during free time. One student even said, “It’s creepy that you smile all the time,” because I was experiencing a joy I'd never known which was a major shift from the days where I begrudgingly planted rose bushes in nature preservers.

For me being a volunteer is not just a hobby, it’s a necessity. My involvement in these organizations has allowed me to witness joy, growth, and success. There is no greater feeling to me than presenting a student's work at the end of the semester or making the final edits on a long-term project. Much of my time is spent pouring over textbooks, but I will always make time to be a leader in nonprofits since I believe they are worth my personal investment as the payoff flows both ways.