300 hours, one award, and no plans to stop. Senior Morgan Dahl exhibits her love for her community by giving her time, specifically 300 hours of it.
Attaining an FCPS Service Learning Cord to be worn during graduation takes a total of 40 hours logged and approved in x2vol, but Dahl surpassed the minimum by a landslide. Some opportunities seem hard to come by when it comes to community service, but Dahl thrives by signing up for whatever she can.
“I’m a part of Volunteer Fairfax and so it’s just this email list that you sign up for and they send out like a newsletter each week with new opportunities and so I just look at that each week and sign up for whatever I can do,” Dahl said.
Through the opportunities provided by Volunteer Fairfax, Dahl found her calling in community service, where she would go on to put in 300 of her hours and receive a President’s Volunteer Service Award for her time.
“Generation Union is the main organization I volunteer with and it’s focused on bridging generational gaps between the elderly and the youth through youth volunteering,” Dahl said.
During her many leadership positions with Generation Union and other organizations, Dahl gained a strong sense of hard work, a trait she uses in Social Studies Honor Society as the Community Service Liaison. As well, it’s a quality she can use even as she moves on after her high school career.
“In Generation Union I’m the outreach director and so we have local chapters at schools and I run the local chapters. And then I also volunteer at a lot of races, like the water stops. And so since I’ve done that so much now, I’m the team lead at water stops,” Dahl said.
Finding community service opportunities in order to receive the FCPS Service Learning Cord for graduation can be hard to come by. Many students don’t fully understand what qualities are needed to gain the hours that Dahl has earned.
“Don’t be scared to sign up for random things. Like I have signed up for so many community service things where I have no idea what’s happening, who’s running it, but I just sign up anyway and it always works out,” Dahl said.
In 2024, Dahl received a President’s Volunteer Service Award, representing her putting in over 100 hours of her time into giving back to the community, in only 12 months. She described the experience as “surreal” as she didn’t do the service for the hours, but rather for the connections she makes.
“I think I will be someone who does community service my whole life. It brings me a lot of joy. I like the connections I make,” Dahl said.
Dahl wants to continue in community service, hoping to gain more hours, receive more awards, and to inspire others to participate as well.
