"It's not really volunteering if you are forcing me to do it". I have volunteered almost my entire life. One of my earliest memories is walking in Take Back the Night marches with my mom. I guess I probably volunteered to go with her; I don't remember throwing a temper tantrum in protest. As I went through school it became increasingly common to have a volunteer obligation connected with getting to the next grade. It seemed like a good idea for schools to ask their students to volunteer. The school was promoting good works in the community, it was giving the students experience, the students got to broaden their networks and horizons by meeting new people and do new things. It seems like a win for everyone.
Many forms of volunteering give the volunteer some sort of benefit; maybe it is a job reference, credit for school, developing professional skills or building their resume. There is nothing wrong with getting something out of volunteering. I have seen people very successfully leverage their volunteer experience into a new job or school application. This is great. It also shows us that volunteering isn't "supposed" to be one specific thing. For those of you out there working with youth volunteers I would encourage you to add evaluation as a key piece to their experience. By adding reflection into the orientation, training or end of the day wrap up you will avoid having the experience be only about the extrinsic reward and instead will uncover all the intrinsic gems that come from volunteering.
Check out these reflection activities for groups put out by California State University, Fullerton
http://www.fullerton.edu/deanofstudents/volunteer/resources/reflectionActivities.html
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