A Personal Account of Performing Community Service Hours Tutoring in High School

The time that I spent tutoring however, was and still is very different from my experience as a temporary ramp-stain applicator. I wasn't even entirely sure that I was going to put down the time I spent with my student until I realized I needed them. I started tutoring the kid on his request and not on my own actually, which I found funny when I heard it was someone that I actually knew. Chris was the name of the kid who requested that I tutor him, and since I knew him I decided it wouldn't be a bad idea. The tutoring sessions happened in the library and didn't much have to do with politics either, unless you take it on an extreme level and involve all of the budget ordeals that have been going on with the school and New York State.

 The organization that we are a part of is a High school and anything affiliated with its political standing didn't truly affect our ability to sit in the library and do math problems, so there isn't much to do with politics in this community service activity either. The sessions always went on longer than that of what they were supposed to. The late bus was always supposed to come at 3:45PM but somehow always ends up arriving at around 4:10PM. On the very first day I tutored the kid he wanted to play trash ball and show me how well he could shoot shots from a distance. I thought this was funny and through silly shenanigans such as playing trash ball in the library we became friends instead of just a tutor and a student. The interesting part was that the friendship we developed actually enhanced his desire to learn about the new common core system that's currently be implemented into 7th grade mathematics. I actually got use to tutoring very quickly and rather started to look forward to when I had tutoring sessions, though it is most likely because of whol was tutoring he also picked up rather quickly on the things that I was talking about and made me wonder if he even needed a good bit of the time.

One of the better moments of my high school career was on a day when we didn't have much to do and he for some reason took an interest in my physics lab I had out. He wanted to know about physics so I decided to humor him. I told him how bouncy balls are affected by gravity and why it is that they will never bounce back to their original height after they are dropped from mid-air. It was such a simple concept it amazed me how intently that he listened to what I had to say.

 I pointed up at the high lights in the library, and the moment I pointed up he looked up at the lights, his face lit up in a way that is hard for me to describe. I had his full undivided attention in this subject that he wanted to know about and found interesting. I was treated more like an older brother teaching their younger sibling about something awesome. I have never been particularly good with kids and at that have grown to dislike junior high kids especially, but he shined through my petty annoyance and I felt like a real teacher. After that I knew I had to continue doing the tutoring sessions since they seemed to have more value than just teaching a kid how to do math. It was an experience in something that I am rather pessimistic in, rather a life experience that will probably stick with for as long as I retain the ability to hold memories.

All in all, performing my community service hours was not a bad experience, but a rather enjoyable one really. Though the ramp staining that I did with my friends was a fun activity it didn't really serve as much of a purpose as the tutoring did. I actually got a good experience and developed an interesting friendship with Chris from the time I spent and am going to spend tutoring until I graduate this year. There are most likely other community service activities that have values beyond just acquiring community service hours. Every experience gained regardless of how insignificant the experience is an experience that further develops your character, which is far more valuable than just simply fulfilling graduation requirements.

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