North Penn High School offers a vast variety of extracurriculars that provide opportunities for students to get involved in their community. Clubs such as SENP, Key Club, and ENACT provide chances to volunteer locally. For those who want to take it one step further, Lansdale Borough has similar opportunities where students can actively participate in their community, and the benefits it opens up are abundant.
Robert Gladfelter, Lansdale Borough’s Environmental Advisory Council chair, explained that for students, volunteering within the community can open up many doors down the road.
“Communication, decision-making, and organizational skills can be gained through volunteering. Additionally, a lot of the people who are volunteering come from many different backgrounds with many different skills, but all have the goal to make our communities a better place to live,” Gladfelter explained.
Additionally, an important benefit to reap from volunteering is it can be beneficial to put down on college applications, and can even help students make good connections.
“When filling out college applications, scholarships, and internships, the decision makers always are interested in hearing about volunteering and the takeaways you have gained from those opportunities. Also, volunteering can oftentimes provide additional opportunities with making connections with professionals that may be able to help with future endeavors,” Gladfelter said.
For students who are interested in getting involved locally, Gladfelter explains that it can be as simple as reaching out.
“Sometimes it is as simple as asking if there are opportunities. You can also follow local government social media pages or websites to see if there are any announcements looking for volunteers. There may be friends of groups, watershed groups, local professional groups, and society groups that often are looking for volunteers to help with events or programs.”
“If your local groups currently do not have a student representation, go to a meeting and see if you are interested and then speak with the Chair of that committee. You never know until you pursue it,” Gladfelter explained.
Gladfelter also noted that student involvement in their communities gives a different perspective into issues for local organizations.
“Having the voice of the younger generations can provide much-needed insight as to what is important to them. Our Commission finds educating our residents about important subjects is extremely valuable and having a student representative may help us find ways to engage our younger population as well,” Gladfelter said.
Gladfelter has recently reached out to Mr. John Collier, a North Penn High School science teacher and ENACT advisor, with interest in adding a student member to the Environmental Advisory Council to achieve the aforementioned younger voice.
“I am thankful that I was introduced to Mr. Collier. This partnership has allowed me to let him know of surveys for plans that may affect students or create an opportunity such as this, and he has been sharing events being conducted by the ENACT group. I am hopeful that this communication continues beyond my time with the EAC,” Gladfelter commented.
Overall, volunteering as a student outside of school can provide countless opportunities, and all it takes is reaching out to local organizations. This reaching out can put students one step ahead of their peers in meeting new people and filling out college applications, all while doing something good for their community.
“Whether volunteering at Manna on Main Street, at our Public Library, park cleanups, stream bank planting, and other events; volunteering can provide anyone with chances to work alongside professionals in a certain field that may be of interest. This also can provide valuable experience for the future. But more importantly, we hope there is a bigger sense of pride that is achieved when you know that you have had a positive impact in your community,” stated Gladfelter.