Essay: The Impact Behind Volunteering (Student Heroes)

Community service organizations leave an effect on those that they assist and continue to do so for the years that follow. It is such an important thing to have within small societies and therefore, that is why I have chosen the University of Oklahoma’s student-led service organization called “OU Student Heroes” in which I will perform my observations on. Throughout the course of the last four weeks, I have had the chance to conduct in-depth research and interview McKenzie Roberts, a member of the Student Heroes, whom I had received detailed information regarding this on campus group. During the duration of this essay I will be explaining OU Student Heroes’ social and political issue of mental health awareness as well as the issue of voting, and the values that this group portrays and that the members hold within.
Student Heroes is a community based service organization, founded in 2017 by Jordan D’silva,  that executes projects in the surrounding areas for the betterment of the Norman society. This group currently has 153 members and still continues to grow larger each year. Within it, there are twenty leadership positions available and regular volunteer opportunities as well. Even though it is a group that was developed at the University of Oklahoma, any person of any age within the public is allowed to join. Student Heroes does not discriminate and the more volunteers that are willing to participate, the more efficient results will be when trying to make a change. As stated in the description on the groups OrgSync website, “Student Heroes makes positive change by identifying problems and implementing sustainable solutions through the use of student-led projects.” The group partners with other local non-profit organizations, schools, and community members. Student Heroes has recently became an SGA recognized organization, which now allows for them to get funded instead of having to raise the donations by themselves for projects that they perform regularly.
My interviewee, McKenzie Roberts, joined in February of last year (2017) when she was eighteen years old. She stated that the reason behind why she decided to join was because she had been offered a leadership position and she was also excited about being given the opportunity to help make a difference. When discussing values, Ms. Roberts stated that the personal values that she has developed during her stint with the group would be friendship, passion, and teamwork. All of these are brought about through the service projects that they carry out each month or so. Mackenzie aspires to be an elementary teacher after she obtains the level of education she needs for it, which ties into her reasoning for wanting to be a part of such an amazing group. Therefore, she joined this organization determined to make a change in the society and specifically to work with the services involving children around the community. She concluded, “I encourage all current and former OU Students to join this group because it is actually more than just community service and the friendships you make will be lasting and only continue to strengthen over the years.”
Of the many benefits that come with the joining of the Student Heroes group some would include an enormous amount of volunteer hours, a chance for a higher leadership position, an enhanced resume look, and a chance to upgrade the surrounding areas. When speaking about the projects that this group participates in or performs, some of them include Meals on Wheels, the Norman Animal Shelter, the Veterans Association, and a lot of surrounding schools within the city of Norman. They also do small tasks such as painting, construction, taking donations, and even small food drives conducted by the organization itself. Lastly, the group has some goals in which they hope to accomplish in the next few years. OU Student Heroes hopes to serve the Norman community fully and to the absolute best of their abilities in order to leave an impact and lasting smiles on those people around them. Student Heroes is highly involved in social life and other aspects, whilst they perform various tasks in order to give rise to the issues that are currently happening in today’s world.
Social or political issues that a group is focused on play a huge role on developing one’s perception about the organization as a whole. The OU Student Heroes organization has both a social and political issue that most of their attention has obtained. This group’s focal point has been the social aspect of raising awareness for the mental health of people. On the political side of things, they attempt to bring about attention towards getting the younger population to vote more frequently. I was able to observe these certain issues during my interview and through their social media posts. One particular post that comes to mind was posted on their Instagram page and the picture states “I VOTED” in blue and red coloring with white stars above and below the lettering. In the caption of this post, OU Student Heroes stated that “75% of young people say our government isn’t listening. Our voices matter. Help us change this statistic and force them to listen to us by attending our Voting Awareness Meeting.” In regards to this subject, I believe that voting is a very important part of the world today and should be strongly emphasized towards the millennium generation and others in the future to come.
The social issue of this group is exemplified on their OrgSync website. For the month of October, the OU Student Heroes will be tackling the issue of student mental health above all. They will be providing informative suicide prevention training and learning about the mental health resources that are available so that anyone who may be going through these things can have the knowledge and understand that they are not alone, that there is also always someone that they can talk to in regards to this subject. Hunt stated that “In the 2008 National College Health Assessment sponsored by the American College Health Association (ACHA-NCHA), more than one in three undergraduates reported “feeling so depressed it was difficult to function” at least once in the previous year, and nearly one in 10 reported “seriously considering attempting suicide” in the previous year” (4).  Personally, I think that this a serious issue that should be talked about more among teenagers and more precautions should be developed in order to decrease the suicide rates and increase the levels of happiness and stress relief among college students. The fact that Student Heroes is bringing attention to this widespread epidemic says a lot about the groups values. Both the social and political issues that they are concerned about reflect their care and service for the Norman community.
In regards to which is of the upmost importance, my interviewer McKenzie Roberts, stated that “At this point that we are in today’s world, I would say that Student Heroes is mainly focused on the political issue of convincing the young population to get out and vote.” This organization has put on multiple events in the previous and current months to help encourage those to do so. These various things include posting banners and flyers all around OU’s campus and other surrounding areas, providing meetings and lectures that they conduct to inform college students about the importance of voting, holding events for all of the Norman community to register to vote, and providing free food and gifts for those who come out to help raise awareness for this issue. The turn-out rate to these things, such as the voting awareness meetings, has increased as the organization has become widely known at the University of Oklahoma. During my interview, I had also asked about how she would connect these issues to a shared group value and in response Ms. Roberts stated, “You can really see a sense of compassion during every event in which we hold. I say this because each and every member has become extremely passionate through these occasions due to the positive vibes that are spread to all the people involved.” Her statement does a good job at showing OU Student Heroes values through the issues at hand that they are currently trying to bring more recognition too.
Secondary research is vital to understanding something at a higher level through outside observations or interactions with the group conducted by someone who consumes differing opinions from your own. The secondary research that I have gathered concerning my organization was developed by the “OU Daily” newspaper. The article discusses a time in which members of the group had went to Lincoln Elementary School in order to inform the children on how to use robots and perform programming projects. Not only did this expand the kids knowledge and help them to develop new thoughts on things that they may have otherwise not gained the opportunity to have, it relives a huge amount of stress from the teacher and keeps the students interested. This reference can be used as a strong example of the groups values being conducted. In this newspaper D’Silva, president of OU Student Heroes, stated “That’s the biggest difference between us and other service organizations – we believe that to really solve problems, you have to go habitually and implement lasting solutions and strategies that keep going after you leave.” One can notice that this organization takes much pride in helping those around the county. Through the observable research that I have acquired, I feel as if joining this group would only have positive effects and without community service, the world would more likely be an extremely dull place to reside in. Giving is the act of doing something without expecting anything but a smile in return and Student Heroes exemplifies this through their values of giving, along with teamwork very well.
Another example  secondary research can be found on the OU Student Heroes twitter page. This includes an image of elementary children holding up papers. These papers consisted of pen pal letters that some of the members had written to the kids as a source of encouragement and entertainment during college and career week. A teacher named Megan Barfknecht, @barknecht_m on Twitter, posted this image with the caption “We got our pen pal letters!! Thanks @oustudentheroes.” The kids in the image appear to be full of joy and happiness to have received something so little. This image reflects their value of generosity and compassion. Facial expressions tell everything, and OU Student Heroes strives to leave lasting impacts on those that they come into contact with, such as the kids at Degan Elementary School.
To conclude, Student Heroes is a community service group on campus that works hard to solve the problems that present themselves at hand in the county. The projects and events that the members are involved with will set them on the path to success and expand their skills and knowledge in leadership, communication, problem-solving, and the ability to work well within a group or team. Overall, I think that volunteer work is a necessity because it proves the inner kindness that people possess and can result in a “butterfly effect.” When one performs a community service act it can leave an influence on a specific person or people within a group that can last forever. In return , the person who was able to conduct this service task is left feeling accomplished and fulfilled. Student Heroes provides a great opportunity to make a difference in the lives of others everyday.