High school students are constantly on the run trying to balance school, extracurricular, work, and keeping up with friends and school events. Volunteering, although important, is often at the bottom of the list of important things to get done, even if a large sum of volunteer hours looks good to colleges. To help students and the community, Mountain Ridge sets up an annual Ridge Gives day, and this year’s just passed on October 27. Ridge Gives is a community event that offers different activities for students to get involved.

“We went around and did different acts of service like painting the curbs and picking up trash at parks,” says Neil Walia, a member of DECA says. “It was a giant cultivation of community service set up by different groups.”

Clubs like DECA and NHS primarily set the day up, but there were ways for other groups to get involved and earn hours as well. For example the marketing class helped in preparation – they took inventory of the student store, and other groups did similar things that took place ahead of time. There were many ways to get involved, and the organizers made this well known through their promotion of the day on social media and the announcements.

“We think it’s good for them to be involved and get hours, and it’s a fun time to spend with your friends, and get to know everybody. We put it on social media and the announcements for information, so people can always have access to find a way to get involved,” Walia states.

Becoming involved, especially through volunteer work, is a great way to impact the community. Ridge Gives is a perfect opportunity to do so, with all of the physical work like cleaning up parks, hosting a car wash, painting curbs, and collecting donations. However, it also affects the community in a non-physical way.

“It helps teach students how it’s good to be involved, so everybody benefits. Everybody in the community is closer, and the overall atmosphere is better,” Walia claims.

If you missed out on Ridge Gives this year, and still want to help the community, or gain some hours, there’s no need to worry. DECA and NHS will be hosting other opportunities to volunteer throughout the year, or you can always stop by next year. Volunteering is important, and it is never too late to help others.