According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary (n.d.), the definition of community service is doing work without pay to help others in a community. This is a common perception, that doing community service is only doing good for other people. A fairly popular theory from psychologist Dan Batson explains this as well, the theory of altruism. This theory explains that people volunteer solely due to the want to help others expecting nothing in return (Ricard, 2009). I began my community service to learn about the field of health care and to help others, not planning to get anything in return. I decided against paid employment because I determined it would be more valuable for myself to volunteer in the community and learn as much as I could about health care and doing good for others. Little did I know that volunteering would benefit me in so many ways. Volunteering has benefited my psychological health. After completing many hours of service opportunities, it was clear to me how beneficial my service learning opportunity was to my health. 

While in school I became involved in the Student Nurses Association (SNA) at the University of South Carolina Lancaster. I started as just an active member, growing involved in community service opportunities and eventually became the SNA vice president where I organized service opportunities. Through the SNA and the opportunities it has provided me, I have benefited in so many ways. I have gained a group of friends who have become my support system, I have found an outlet to reduce my stress and anxiety, and I have increased my confidence as a student nurse. 

The social aspect of interacting with and helping people in the community can have a profound effect on someone’s psychological well-being. According to Harvard Health, interacting with people in the community has been shown to help reduce stress, anger, and anxiety (2013). Let’s think about the interaction with animals. For example, when I can interact with my hospital’s therapy dogs, I feel more relaxed and happier than I did before I saw the dogs. Working with animals improves a person’s mood and reduces stress and anxiety. This is the same with human interaction. Being able to interact with other human beings can serve as an outlet to reduce the stress and anxiety of everyday life. By measuring hormones and brain activity, research has also shown that helping others can also deliver immense pleasure which in return reduces stress and anxiety (HelpGuide, 2019). One example of this would be my SNA Healthy Snack Drive. As a Student Nurses Association officer, I was responsible for creating community service projects. I organized a healthy snack drive for our local city firefighters. Firefighters often have constant calls and are not able to eat most of their 24-hour shift. All they have on their trucks is water and Gatorade. I came up with the idea to collect healthy snack items that these workers could keep on their trucks for long days when they are not able to stop to eat. After gathering three huge bins of items, I drove them to the local fire station. The expressions on the firefighters’ faces and being told how grateful they were for such a small act of kindness brought great joy to me. Being able to help first responders in my community helped me feel the pleasure to help others and helped me forget about some of the stressors that are going on at home. Service opportunities such as those offered by the Student Nurses Association give students the ability to reduce stress, improve mental health, and even improve their college experience. 

According to a Duke University study, volunteering in any setting helps to build social connections which can yield many mental health benefits (2000). Making social relationships can help you develop stable support systems, this in return helps protect you from depression and contribute to more happy and positive feelings (Wilson & Musick, 2000). I have always struggled with depression and being able to be involved in volunteer work with the SNA has genuinely helped me mentally. The social interaction I get with others who share my same interest helped reduce my depression and find happiness. I have always been very isolated to myself and have not had many friends, but being a part of the Student Nurses Association gave me the ability to work with other nursing students and nursing faculty while serving my community. This gave me the ability to interact with others who share the same love of nursing and health care. The people who I have been working with have become my support system and have been the ones that have helped me get through nursing school and life hardships. My depression has been dramatically improved by being involved with the SNA. I have gained a group of friends that I can always call on and can work with to improve our community. 

Lastly, doing good for others in the community can provide

a natural sense of accomplishment. Volunteering and helping

others in the community can give you a sense of pride and

identity. This will then lead to a feeling of confidence, and

likely a more positive view of life and future goals (HelpGuide, 2019).

I experienced this when the Student Nurses Association volunteered

at the Lancaster City Health Festival. The SNA was asked to set

up a booth to take blood pressures for interested community

members. I volunteered to be one of the nursing students that

took blood pressures. As a first-semester nursing student, I took

Fundamentals of Nursing Practice (NURS 312), where I learned the

basics of the nursing practice such as vital signs. In simulation

labs, we would get with a partner and practice taking their blood pressure.

Even though this is practice, having one simulation partner was not enough practice for me to feel confident in my ability to take vitals such as blood pressure. At the festival, I was nervous about taking the public’s blood pressure. It amazed me at how many people were interested in what their blood pressure was and what their readings could mean. After taking many pressures and educating people about what blood pressure is and what their readings mean, I felt much more confident in my ability to evaluate blood pressures. Through this service opportunity, I was able to practice taking pressures and develop my confidence in working with and educating the public. This experience gave me a sense of value and built my confidence as a student nurse, helping me in my student clinical practice to be a better student nurse. 

Becoming involved in the Student Nurses Association as a freshman was one of the best decisions I could have made in college. I grew involved in service opportunities with nursing students going through what I was in college. This helped me gain a group of people that will be my forever friends and have been with me through my nursing school journey. It has also given me an outlet to help reduce the stress and anxiety of school and home life. My mental health has become so much better since becoming involved in SNA community service opportunities. This is a group that I advocate to all new nursing students that come to USC Lancaster. Being a part of the SNA will help students become involved in the community, helping others but also helping their mental health and confidence as a nursing student.