Does anyone else ever feel bad about not enjoying community service? Every semester, I go on a VOLbreak, a multi-day service trip over fall and spring break. This past fall break, I went to Birmingham, Alabama, and did service in partnership with Jones Valley Teaching Farm. While I enjoy the trip for making friends and seeing the impact I make through my service, I often find that I don’t actually enjoy doing the service.

As an ambassador for the Jones Center for Leadership and Service, I frequently go around to different FYS classrooms and give a presentation titled “All About the JCLS.” I’m constantly surprised by the number of students who have never heard of the JCLS or its programs like Ignite, Emerging Leaders and ServeUTK.

However, I’m even more shocked by the lack of desire among undergraduates to engage in community service. While many of them need it for clubs, fraternities, sororities, classes and scholarships, they won’t engage in service outside of what’s required.

When I’m giving my FYS presentations, one thing I struggle with is trying to convey the importance of service to first-years. We have a slide in the presentation where I ask, “Why is Community Service Important?” and every time, the room suddenly becomes very interested in the floor.

Now I’m sure they believe it’s important to help others, but they can’t seem to articulate why. While I give them the answers that the JCLS provides me with, I often find myself resonating with the students. I sometimes feel like I don’t know the purpose of why I do community service.

In this post, I want to talk about my experience volunteering at Jones Valley Teaching Farm in Birmingham, Alabama, during fall break and how this can help illuminate what I deem to be the importance of community service.

During the trip, we spent two days working on the farm. On the first day, we weeded some plants around the garden, and on the second day, we replaced the pine straw around the area and also harvested tomatoes, kale and other vegetables. Both days were 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. with a one-hour lunch break.

While I woke up each day ready for service, within two hours, I was ready to leave. The scorching sun, intense manual labor and repetitiveness of the tasks bored me out of my mind and made me dread having to stay. However, I stayed.

Now, maybe part of the reason I didn’t just get up and leave is because I didn’t want to get kicked out of the program (they were my ride back to Knoxville after all), or maybe it was because I feared social ostracization for being the person to quit. Maybe it was actually pride that made me stay; I had to prove my past self right.

Now, while I think there is truth in all of those reasons, I’d like to believe that deep down, I just wanted to help the farm. While the frustration and boredom got to me — as I’m sure they do to many of you — I continued not because I had to, but because I wanted to.

I’ve realized that the purpose of community service isn’t always to enjoy it. It’s about showing up even when it’s uncomfortable or inconvenient, about learning how to give without recognition, staying when you’d rather leave and serving because it’s the right thing to do. The value doesn’t come from how much fun you’re having, but from the quiet act of caring for something beyond yourself.

It’s not always exciting, sure, but sacrifice isn’t always fun. Your hands may be dirty and your back sore, but you’re sure to meet some great people and see that you’re part of something bigger than your own comfort. Maybe community service is less about the work you do and more about the kind of person you become while doing it.

Max Aba is a sophomore at UT double-majoring in elementary education and religious studies with minors in Jewish studies and philosophy. He can be reached at [email protected].

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