From Obligation to Inspiration

Service Learning and Community Prefect Olive reflects on how authentic service transforms both giver and receiver. Here she shares her journey from completing required hours to finding genuine purpose in giving back.

Each week, our student leaders share their insights with their peers in Assembly.

Service has always been an important topic at Wenona. Since being honoured with the role of Service Learning and Community Prefect, it is something I have thought about a lot more. For students in younger years, I’m sure the first thing that comes to mind is the Service Learning in the Community (SLIC) hours that you receive email upon email about. Older students probably feel secretly relieved when they no longer are obliged to complete these hours. But words like ‘obliged’, ‘complete’ and ‘compulsory’, are not words we should associate with service.

Now, before you think I am some selfless hero, I will be completely honest: in Years 7 and 8, my service contribution extended purely to completing my SLIC hours. But during Year 9, my dad organised for our family and lots of our friends to cook meals through the charity Kids Giving Back, delivering them directly to families. During the first few drop-offs I was honestly scared to enter, because of the preconceived images I had in my mind. When my dad and I knocked at the final small apartment, just around the corner from Wenona, a young man opened and gave us a big smile of gratitude. It was the first time I felt that warm feeling you get when you serve and give back. Just as our new Prefect initiative states: ‘Give more, Grow more’. Honestly, I didn’t have to give much for to grow in the way that I did.

Later in Year 9, I was fortunate enough to go on a Wenona Service Learning trip to Kununurra in the East Kimberley region. To say the experience was life-changing would be an understatement. We met, cooked for, laughed with, and played with Indigenous children in the area and simply seeing their faces light up with joy was reward enough. Despite leaving my wallet on the plane, hiking with soaking wet socks and getting thousands of mosquito bites, nothing mattered when again I felt that warm feeling of seeing families gather to have a meal that we had made them. Year 9 students, I know you are getting ready to go on these trips in the September holidays. Please make the most of them, listen to the stories the locals will share and most importantly, experience how giving back can make you feel.

And of course, participating in cadets has also shaped my perception of service. Now, to expose myself again, I did not sign up for cadets all those years ago because I wanted to serve; I had other motives. But now, almost three years on, there is nothing I get more pride from than standing in our cadet uniform on ANZAC Day or Remembrance Day and representing those who served our country. That is why I do it - I want to share that sense of understanding and gratitude with younger cadets and show them how to continue this recognition by keeping the stories and acts of selfless service of those who came before, alive.

It is undeniable that we are immensely fortunate young people who have been given opportunities, education, and resources that many others can only dream of. But with privilege comes responsibility. And while donating a gold coin at the gate for a ribbon, or purchasing a sweet treat or two at lunch can help people and does make a difference, giving back extends beyond charity to genuine connection. When you step into service, you’re not only helping others, you’re expanding your own point of view, learning empathy, and discovering the power to make change. Service is how we turn privilege into purpose. It’s how we show gratitude for what we’ve been given, and how we use our strengths to build a better world. And that can start here. You don’t have to wait until you’re older or in a position of leadership, your actions right now can change the lives of those around you for the better.