Stories

2017 Camarillo Chili Cook-Off

The Camarillo Chili Cook-Off took place on September 3, 2017 at Camarillo, CA! A group of Student Corps Volunteers volunteered from 6:30 am to 7:00 pm, with the blistering 99 degree weather! Thanks to Big Brothers Big Sisters of Ventura County for providing us an opportunity to volunteer at this popular event. Enjoy the slideshow, and we hope to see you next year!

Words from the National Board: Richard Q.

Dear Members,

It is our passion to help the people and do meaningful things for our community, to improve the environment we are living, and to create brighter futures for our new generations. All of this can be accomplished through volunteering by anyone of any age. However, the capability for younger students to do volunteering is limited. I especially note the lack of volunteer organizations in middle schools and elementary schools, and the only time where students are exposed to volunteering is when they enter high school.

Students always have the potential to change their world.

Student Corps provides an opportunity for all students to lead and shape the volunteering world. Student Corps is 100% led by students, giving them the power to pave the way for change. Students always have the potential to change their world. Our goal is to guide all students in entering the volunteering world and to be passionate about volunteering. In the end, it is not about the award, but rather it is the feeling that you made an impact on the world, one person at a time.

Sincerely,

Richard Q.

Dear Members,

Inspired by my very first volunteer service at Sacred Heart Community Center, I deeply was touched by working directly with the families, single mothers/fathers, and children who were in desperate need of supplies. Volunteer service has not only allowed me to better my community one step at a time, but it also has taught me life-long skills of leadership and compassion; I have realized that nobody needs a fancy title such as being a captain or a president to demonstrate leadership: leadership can simply mean lending a helping hand and showing others how to do it as well. Student Corps has given me an avenue to satisfy my growing desire to help myself and others practice our inherent responsibility to contribute to our community.

Sincerely,

Leo T.

Words from the National Board: Christie Y.

Dear Members,

Student Corps began as a project among fellow students (The national board currently comprises two rising seniors, a rising junior, a rising sophomore, and a rising sixth-grader) with an idea and a vision. We came together as a group with a common hope: to create an organization for students, by students. Nobody understands the needs of young people better than young people themselves, and that’s what we hope to be: people who facilitate, motivate, and inspire our community — the student community — to enact change in their local communities.

Service is more than a school requirement or a resume thickener. For us, community service is the chance to expand our horizons, recognize perspectives from those around us, and learn from altruism. That’s why the mission of the Student Corps will always be to invigorate students to do service, and to provide students opportunities, ideas, and resources to do so. We created the Student Corps brand to mobilize a nation of intelligent, thoughtful, and optimistic youth to contribute to their communities, and we hope that with the experiences that Student Corps can offer, students will develop and hone their leadership, teamwork, and organizational skills.

We believe that the future is full of hope.

Wherever you are, whatever you’re doing, please think about the principles that are the foundation of Student Corps. We want to inspire young people — kindergartners, fifth graders, sophomores, undergrads, and everyone in between — to realize their roles in their community, and understand how much they can do for the people around them. We hope to instill the values of civic responsibility, altruism, and collaboration within the younger generation, and help students grow as members of their community, because we believe that the future is full of hope — full of people who will love each other, their peers and their communities, so that the world will be at peace.

Sincerely,

Christie Y.