eBook: Essential Student Guide to Volunteering and Community Service

We didn’t write the book on Service Learning’s best practices. But we did follow all of its advice.

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As author and leading Service Learning Expert Dr. Joos says, "Students repeatedly asking the same questions over and over... How do I find an organization that fits my interests? My schedule? My transportation needs? How do I get in touch with someone at the organization to sign up? What do I need to know before my first visit? How do I log my hours and get them approved? What do I do if I find the service to be boring?"
This guide was created to answer such questions.

When we sat down to brainstorm all of SweatMonkey’s tools, abilities and streamlined processes, we went looking to include all the best practices that are known and proven in the field of student volunteer service learning.

This is how we discovered on "Don't Just Count Your Hours, Make Your Hours Count: The Essential Guide to Volunteering & Community Service", written by leading experts and authors Dr. Kirstin Joos, PhD and Alana J. Rush. As a service to our users, we’ve included it here for your information.

The book provides students with basic information about community service, service learning, and volunteering, so they can then focus on the big and more important questions, like:

  • How does my volunteer experience connect to the social issues we're studying in class?
  • What is this experience teaching me about social, environmental, and economic issues, both locally and around the world?
  • What am I learning about myself and what will I carry with me as I plan for my own future, as a community member, leader, and change-maker?
It also includes best practices, tips, lists, "How to's", "Don't do's", popular wisdom, academic research, real-life experiences, student volunteer etiquette guides, and more. It is THE essential guide to volunteering & community service for students.

Table of Contents:

  1. Why Volunteer
  2. Look Before You Leap
  3. Finding Opportunities
  4. Contacting Organizations
  5. Preparing for Your First Visit
  6. Tips for How to Be a Volunteer Extraordinaire
  7. Maintaining Motivation & Energy
  8. Reviewing What You’re Learning, Getting Some Perspective
  9. Moving On Without Leaving a Hole in Your Heart or Theirs
  10. Resources for More Information About the Authors

About the Authors

Kristin E. Joos, Ph.D.
Dr. Kristin Joos is on faculty at the University of Florida, and is the Director for the Young Entrepreneurs for Leadership & Sustainability: High School Summer Program at UF. In 2005, she brought Social Entrepreneurship to UF and created and directs the Innovative Sustainability and Social Impact Initiative in the Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation. Kristin is a UF graduate, earning her bachelor’s degree in Psychology with minors in Sociology, Religion, and Women's & Gender Studies. In 2003, she graduated with a Ph.D. in Sociology & a graduate certificate from the Center for Women's Studies and Gender Research. Her research interests center around youth & emerging adults, social entrepreneurship, community service, service learning civic engagement, and creating positive social change. Kristin is passionate about teaching students to use the skills & strategies of business to create innovative & sustainable solutions to social, environmental, and economic problems locally and around the world. In 2007, she received UF's Service-Learning Professor of the Year Award because of the community service she and her students do. From 2003-2006, she served as the Coordinator of Admissions & Student Activities for the Honors Program at UF. She is now a lecturer, teaching courses in Sociology and Social Entrepreneurship.

Alana J. Rush
Currently based in Mumbai, India, Alana Rush is a service-learning and education consultant. Prior to moving to India, she was the Assistant Director of Community Service at Phillips Academy Andover, an independent secondary school outside of Boston. At Andover, she pioneered innovative service-learning courses and programming, and advised the Clutch Collaborative, a student-led initiative that hosted the first for-students/by-students social entrepreneurship conference in November 2009. She created the Crossing Borders, Changing Lives service-learning based summer program in San Bartolo, Peru and spent two summers co-leading Andover’s nationally-recognized Niswarth summer service-learning program in Mumbai. A graduate of the University of Florida, Alana developed her passion for community service, leadership, and service-learning through her involvement with UF’s Center for Leadership and Service. Alana is a founding member of the Boston-based group Educators for Teaching India, and she is actively involved in the Mumbai Chapter of Room to Read, an international NGO dedicated to literacy and girls’ education in the developing world.