Community- A Love for Longwood

I am writing this page at the end of my sophomore year at Longwood University. Unfortunately, when I first started my ePortfolio, I considered Service and Community to be the same thing. I was of course confused when I thought there were two separate pages for the same topic, but I assumed I would figure it out eventually. At the completion of my second year of college, I finally figured out the difference! Service is when people execute and accomplish acts of kindness and caring in their community. Community is a sense of belonging in a specific place or with a group of people. You cannot have Service without a Community, and it is rare to have a Community without Service. These two parts of life are different but connected.

I have several smaller communities in my life but they are all a part of the large community of Longwood University. I enjoy keeping busy and leading an active life, so I am a member in several organizations on campus. I have found that, each of my four organizations is its own family dedicated to each other and the group’s mission. Every family is connected through our mutual love and dedication for Longwood. I said earlier that Longwood is a LARGE community and some might disagree due to the size of the school. Longwood is not large in size but large in the sense that it is a strong force. A force for good, a force of a living a community, a force to be reckoned with. I feel the pull of the community when I see my fellow students stand outside all day to raise money for a local charity. I feel the pull when one of my own organizations hosts a free musical petting zoo for the local children. I feel the pull when everyone is stressed during finals week; no one judges you if you walk outside in your pajamas because you have to go to the library but simultaneously need twenty hours of sleep. I feel the pull when someone posts on Facebook and asks to borrow eggs to bake a cake at twelve in the morning and several people offer. All of this, and so much more, instills in me a deep and growing love for Longwood.