The Sunday before fall classes start, new students are offered their very first lesson at Missouri State delivered by President Clif Smart at New Student Convocation. The air in JQH Arena is buzzing with the excitement of thousands of students ready to start the new year. After a raucous performance by the university’s pride band, the speakers begin. A guest speaker offers life and college advice, student and faculty leaders are recognized, and the year’s new Public Affairs theme is explained and ready to be implemented. From the moment convocation ends, you will know two things: the Missouri State fight song and the three pillars of the public affairs mission. Ethical Leadership. Community Engagement. Cultural Competence.

From New Student Convocation moving forward, students are inundated with the pillars at every turn without any deeper conception of what they mean. GEP classes are attempted extensions of the public affairs mission. New students are required to buy a common reader, complete service hours, learn how to get involved in campus organizations, etc. However, some first year students have expressed difficulty in finding meaning in certain service aspects of the classes. So, where are they finding meaning?

As a student worker in the Center for Community Engagement, I have approved hundreds of hours through Campus Link. From Boys and Girls Club to Springfield Community Gardens, students are trying to get involved. I feel pride in my university for taking the time to work in cultivating a culture of community engagement within the student body, yet I have found a disconnect in many of the students completing service hours between volunteering and meaningful service. Required service hours have purpose and good intention; however, many students don’t look past the requirement as just another form to fill out or miss the point completely.

But wait, isn’t good intention enough? Why even bring it up? Students are completing their service hours, so what is the point of mentioning individuals’ motivations?

An article written for Staying For Tea, a blog about individual and organization practices regarding community development both internationally and domestically, stated it best:

It’s about strengthening your voice so that you can be an effective advocate, deepening your knowledge so you can be a non-trivial player, and sharpening your skill so you can be a builder of capacity in others. You reveal your own prejudice that service is more about good intentions than effectiveness. Good intentions aren’t worth much if they bring harm to the people you intend to serve.

So what harm is it for a bunch of college students to complete their required community service hours any way they can? Well, there is no harm in doing the work. Harm comes from the reliance on good intention alone. There is harm when students reflecting on their service think simply giving community agencies the time of day is true selflessness rather than the work they have done. Finally, there is harm when students find that they are the single entity on which community partners rely and without whom the agency would have nothing.

Now, this is not every student by any means, but the sentiment is shared by too many of the students I have come into contact with. It is evident that deeper conversations must be had.  A solid base for passion and thoughtfulness is essential for effective service. For this reason, I challenge Missouri State students. It is quite a task to try and stir up passion for serving in just four short years, but it is possible. As a public affairs-driven university, I argue that it is our duty to jump start an ideological shift. We have the student population to complete effective work in the community. We have a large sector of students who are required to complete dozens of service hours before they graduate. We have a city chock full community partners who would love student involvement and a city with its fair share of issues to address. The resources for meaningful service are all around us. On campus, the Center for Community Engagement provides service learning and community involvement resources. Organizations such as Bear Breaks and Bear Service Team offers many opportunities to serve all over the country and reflect on the issues that need to be addressed. The list of community partners looking for engaging students is endless and the Center can assist any student looking to get involved.

I hope that in writing this piece I don’t deter participation in service opportunities nor do I want students to feel like I am writing this to scold them. Rather, I aspire to bring education and meaning to the service that Missouri State’s students are involved in. I don’t have all the answers, but instead want to introduce a conversation that needs to be had. Are we helping our students to become passionate and productive community members or are we facilitating an unsustainable volunteer effort? When service is seen as a means to a mandatory end, what can we do to create the necessary community connections and passions for community engagement that will last past graduation? When there isn’t a scholarship or student organization pushing you out into the community, what will you do?