The Merriam Webster dictionary defines the word ‘volunteer’ as a person who freely offers to take part in an enterprise or undertake a task. Volunteer has often been synonymous with the words ‘good-will-by-choice.’ However, in recent years, the act of community service has become mandatory.

 Colleges used to look only at your grades and SAT scores. Nowadays, if you want to get into a university, you not only have to get those high scores, but also show you have an array of extracurriculars that most definitely should include community service. You hear high schoolers say, “I’m going to join Key Club because it looks good on a college application,” all the time. When was the last time a kid said, “I’m going to join Key Club because I like volunteering?”

 The service work that is being done is a good thing, but at what cost? Students are losing their sense of responsibility to their community and becoming competitors filled with ruthless zeal to surpass their peers. The fact that some states would rather let students do a number of community service hours rather than have them take an exam shows how distorted volunteering has become.

 The daunting task of fulfilling a number of required hours is often what discourages some students who are genuinely interested in volunteering to serve their community. Why should you be required to complete a number of hours to be part of an organization that is all about helping the community? It just shows how being part of the club has become more important than volunteering itself.

 Whether it be the local community or a worldwide organization, volunteering is no longer what it had intended to be. Ulterior motives that distract a person from what the meaning of community service has tainted the act itself. Perhaps that is just what it takes for people to get out there and help others without expecting anything in return.