I am a professional speaker because my dad used to toss beer cans out of the window of his car. (letting that sink in) I grew up in Wisconsin, at a time when drinking while driving, or even riding, was not the taboo it is today. I always thought there was something wrong with my dad littering like that. Then I saw a TV commercial with a Native American shedding a tear while looking at garbage along a highway. I knew then that I wanted to make a difference in all of the trash that I was seeing, and later in the world.
So, I joined the Scouts and when I got into high school, I joined a student organization dedicated to community service. It was in these organizations that I had my first formal leadership experiences. I found that through serving others, I was learning more about myself and how to be an effective leader.
As I moved on to college, I continued my community service involvement and sought out leadership opportunities. I moved up the ranks of Circle K International and eventually served as International President. I got to travel the world and speak to groups large and small. I was even on the Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon. Twice!
I really enjoyed traveling, speaking and helping college students to achieve their goals and make great things happen. I became a state advisor for Circle K in Georgia and loved working with students and watching their leadership abilities grow through serving others. This led me to the career I now have as a collegiate speaker, mentor, and trainer.
Servant leadership is a term that was coined by Robert Greenleaf, an AT&T executive, in the late 60’s. He wrote the titular essay on the subject and posited that true leadership grows out of an attitude of service to others. The work he started continues today (www.greenleaf.org) and is carried out in the work of students everywhere.
I believe there are five reasons why you should want to involve your students in community service and five ways that you can implement community service into your student leadership programs. Part 1 of this blog post addresses the “whys” - the “hows” are covered in Part 2.
The “Five Whys” of Community Service
1) Servant leadership instills in students a life-time commitment to serving others. My daughter Amanda was introduced to community service through my Circle K involvement. At the age of six, she participated with me at a health fair for the local children’s hospital. The next year, she started the “Secret Service Club” at her elementary school. It was a group of students who worked to keep the grounds clean of garbage. She continued to be involved with service, was elected to the student council in elementary school, and joined service groups while in middle and high school. When she was 16, we started going on mission trips with our church to St. Lucia. She has a real love for the people of that country and the work that goes on there.
This is the type of commitment that I see over and over again from students who are involved in community service. Wouldn’t you be proud to be sending graduates of your school out all over the world, serving others and spreading the values they learned from your programs? These leaders will be making a difference for many years to come, changing their world and ours!
“I shall pass through this world but once. Any good therefore that I can do or any kindness that I can show to any human being, let me do it now. Let me not defer or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again.” – Mahatma Gandhi
2) Involvement in community service becomes a natural component of their life. I spoke at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy a few years ago. After my program, one of the cadets took me on a tour of the campus. As we walked around, I noticed that she would pick up pieces of trash. She was really observant, because I never saw them! After a while, I asked her if she was expected to do this, if it was part of the honor code for the cadets. “No”, she replied, “I just do this on my own. I figure if I pick up one piece of trash every day, there will be 365 less pieces of trash in the world each year.” For her, it was a natural thing to do. If you get your students involved in community service, then servant leadership will become a natural part of who they are. (Watch the accompanying video - Servant Leadership: You Always Win With Service - for more on this story and another personal example of “natural service.”)
“If you can’t feed a hundred people, then feed just one.” – Mother Teresa
3) Develop leadership through service learning (servant leadership). By involving your students in community service, they will learn lessons they cannot get anywhere else. I feel as though I learned as much or more from my co-curricular involvements (mostly community service) than I did in my classes! And over the years that I was an advisor for Circle K, I said this often at new club charter banquets, often with the college president in attendance. And they would agree with me! Service learning is hands-on learning that will last a lifetime.
In his book, Servant Leadership: A Journey into the Nature of Legitimate Power and Greatness, Greenleaf wrote: “The servant-leader is servant first…It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first. Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead. That person is sharply different from one who is leader first, perhaps because of the need to assuage an unusual power drive or to acquire material possessions…The leader-first and the servant-first are two extreme types. Between them there are shadings and blends that are part of the infinite variety of human nature.”
“Everybody can be great. Because anybody can serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.
4) Community service provides value and benefit to campus organizations while enhancing the individual student’s educational experience. Campus organizations that involve themselves in community service, true service, provide a real opportunity for their members. Members get to serve others, providing them with positive experiences. They can see results and the experience becomes part of the background of their education. This enhances their critical thinking skills and they understand the connection between actions and results.
The service has to be meaningful though. I was a member of an honor society in college and we were required to do three projects per year: 1) community or campus service; 2) a cultural activity; and 3) a social activity. So, once a year, we would volunteer to be ushers at a campus play, stay to watch the play, and then go out for pizza afterwards. See ya next year! Make sure the students are involved, not just going through the motions to meet a campus requirement. Tell them to get their hands dirty and participate, not just sit on the sidelines.
When I was Circle K International President, I went out to a day of service near Los Angeles and while I was raking leaves and digging up weeds at the home of an elderly person, I saw the local chapter and state leaders leaning on a car chatting and laughing. I admonished them for their lack of hands-on involvement and got them to help with the work. Make sure everyone participates in the service activities!
“I believe…that every human mind feels pleasure in doing good to another.” – Thomas Jefferson
5) Service learning programs can provide demonstrable results to your campus administration, particularly in light of diminishing programming and campus activities dollars. Community service doesn’t cost much, if anything! It is a valuable commodity in these days of limited resources. You can also see the results. You can count the number of service hours performed by your students. You can ask them to write blogs or essays on their experiences. They can Facebook and Twitter about what they have learned. Community service gives you tangible results that you can show to those who oversee your departments and approve your budgets. Here’s the thing: would you rather show successful service results or have to explain why you had a foul-mouthed comedian on your campus who contributed absolutely nothing to your student’s educational experience?
“It’s not about what you have or what you’ve accomplished. It’s about who you’ve lifted up and made better. It’s about what you’ve given back.” - Academy Award® Winner Denzel Washington
So, those are five whys, along with thoughts of great servant leaders. Part 2 of my blog post will suggest five ways to get your students involved in community service.
What student service success stories do you have? Share them in the comments section below.
Building Leaders Through Community Service…
Go To Part 2 of this series
SEE ALSO: “Building Leaders Through Service” – a workshop by Dave Gonzo Kelly, America’s student leadership Trainer(sm).
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Dave "Gonzo" Kelly, America's Student Leadership Trainer™, has been working with students on leadership development since he was a student himself. As an experienced college speaker and trainer his programs maximize student retention by linking student success through extra-curricular activities.
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[...] experience and resume-building material. If you don’t believe me just check out Dave Kelly’s “Building Leaders Through Community Service” post series. Kelly gives the ins and outs of why you should participate in community service and [...]