Are you trying to give back to the community? Or trying to get your service learning hours in? Well you’re in luck, because many places in Long Beach could use your help. Volunteering can bring fulfillment to your life, advance your aspiring career, as well as benefit your mind and body. Not only does volunteering help you with mental health and fulfillment, but it helps your community too. 

If you’re wondering what service learning hours are, they’re the hours of volunteering you need to complete in order to get a medallion at graduation. Each pathway has different requirements for their medallions. If you’re in COMPASS, MBA, SEGA, or QUEST you need 40 hours. PEACE students are expected to complete 115 hours by graduation. Each pathway has a “pathway leader” who is a teacher that you can go to if you’re seeking more information about service learning hours, medallions, etc. 

Volunteering can be extremely helpful and it can improve your mental health over time. According to psychreg.org, “Doing good for others will provide you with a natural sense of accomplishment and will make you feel proud of yourself. This, in turn, will boost your self-confidence and strengthen your personal identity.”

“It’s important for students to take advantage of getting service learning hours because it gives you experience in a work field you’re interested in,” says Ivette Aguirre, a college and career specialist at Millikan. Colleges want to know what you do outside of your academics. Having service learning hours on your transcript not only looks good for college applications, but it shows that you are motivated on your own. This is what colleges like to see.

There are so many options when it comes to volunteering. With a little bit of research, you can find something that you’re interested in volunteering for. A few options are Animal Care Services, public libraries, Parks and Rec, Rancho Los Cerritos and Rancho Los Alamitos. You can look at websites like longbeach.gov, www.volunteermatch.org, and yelp.com  if you’re looking for volunteer opportunities.