After the many controversies of this school year, the Administration should focus on how to keep the student body on the right track and spend more time on productive activities. Whether it be minimum wage jobs, academic programs over the summer, or anything in between, students should be offered more opportunities to spend their time on positive endeavors.

Community service is one feasible option. Students will not need to be paid, and the reputation of the school will be improved as our collective service hours will go up. Plus, there are plenty is plenty to gain for students by spending some time on this.

Community service looks great on a college resume and helps teenagers build and improve on skills like communication and critical thinking. Plus, a community service provider could offer a recommendation for a job or provide a lead to a potential job.

Students’ mental health could also improve from an increase in service opportunities. Following the surge of failed drug tests, many parents and authority figures at the school have blamed anxiety and stress for this boost in drug use. Therapists have come into health classes and spoke to students about how they could reduce their stress levels and to ward off any ideas that drug use is an acceptable way to suppress these negative feelings.

However, community service appears to be a more effective way to relieve the stress of a tough week of school, and it also gives an added sense of accomplishment to students. Plus, the therapists were not received too well, as the students perceived their presentation as a little bit ridiculous.

The Key Club serves as one of the only outlets of community service in the school currently. Since it has the label of “club,” students may be turned off by the commitment they would have to make, and the meetings they would have to attend. A first come, first serve, one time service opportunity would be more appealing to the average student, and would bring in more volunteers.

Places like Camp Sunshine in Ridgewood, the New Jersey Community Development Corporation in Paterson, and the Ridgewood YMCA are all in a very close vicinity of Glen Rock and are always looking for volunteers. These are only a few of the institutions within 10 miles of the high school that would welcome our help, so a lack of employers would surely not be a problem.

More community service opportunities look to be exactly what this school needs. Colleges like to see it in a student’s repertoire, and parents love to see their children spending time to help the community. Mental health benefits aside, invaluable lessons can be learned from these projects that can help in all aspects of life. Communication and critical thinking skills can be taken from service projects, as well as the ability to work with a group. At this point, it seems like more community service is just about a necessity.