Giving back to the community and serving others is something that holds great value to the students of North Atlanta. Students have been actively engaged in various service projects, eager to contribute to the community that surrounds them. With the seemingly never-ending presence of the Coronavirus, the future of service work is unclear. Fortunately, it seems as though students are beginning to find ways to contend with the challenges presented and are still managing to volunteer from six feet apart. 

Some students have discovered unique, Covid-friendly ways to help the community while still catering to their personal interests. Helping others is fulfilling enough on its own, but it makes it even more valuable when the work is done out of passion. Junior Mady Mertens was able to come by an opportunity that combined her passion for photography and love for animals. Mertens has been volunteering at The Humane Society, where she takes photos of the dogs that are currently up for adoption. “My main goal as a photographer is to capture the animal’s unique personality,” she swaid. “It gives me great happiness to be able to help these sweet animals in any way I can.”

Food insecurity is another pertinent issue that affects people in this community. An organization that is very involved with this issue is Urban Recipe, where many students at North Atlanta have worked. Fortunately, students have still been able to contribute to this organization despite the pandemic. The organization has enforced social distancing and required the use of masks so that they are able to continue serving the greater community. Junior Grant Hawkins is thankful to hear he will be able to continue his work with Urban Recipe. “I had some concerns of how my role in helping this organization would play out due to Corona, but I am grateful that I am still able to have this opportunity, even if it came with a few changes,” he said. 

Although many students have been able to find ways to participate in service, there are still some that are struggling to do so. A lot of programs have limited the amount of people they have working for the safety of others, which can make it hard to find a place to volunteer. Some organizations have even stopped hosting volunteers indefinitely. This is unfortunate for students like junior Sullivan Seydel, who finds himself in the IB program while searching for places to achieve his required volunteer hours. “It is stressful to think that now it’s kind of hard now to fulfill an obligation I’d really like to fulfill,” he said.  

This culture of community engagement will not be deterred by the pandemic. As always, the Dubs will push through and find ways to make themselves of use to the community.