A Brief Introduction to Symbiosis of Service

Wow! Where to begin...Several short months ago, I grew inspired to initiate this new project. I'd been looking for a new opportunity to get more involved in the community and on the campus at the University of Florida, but I was lacking both a support system and real motivation. In high school, there were so many incentives placed in the palm of the student's hand: club points, resume boosters, potential awards/prizes, etc. But what I learned from my freshman year of college is that service is only worthwhile if you are excited and committed to the purpose. In full honesty, I didn't utilize the power of volunteering this school year, and I started to lose who I was. I'd always grown up with a passion to help those less fortunate than I, but I ignored this element of my life greatly and my mental health suffered alongside it. I have found my self purpose once again by focusing on bettering myself and the community, and want to share this improved lifestyle with those willing to listen. Service makes me happy, while also challenging me in impossible ways. There's always available time to make change and be the change for others. That's what I love so much about it...With the right attitude (and a little bit of assertiveness) you can easily make a lasting difference within your own community! That feeling is empowering and hard to beat.

By relating community service and volunteering to popular biology terminology, not only can I connect with other college and high school students, but I can instill a lasting idea in their minds. The way I see it, the relationships young adults build with service are identical to the symbiotic relationships studied in nature.

Parasitic A parasitic relationship demonstrates one benefiting while the other is harmed. This is best exemplified when someone creates a toxic mindset while serving, meaning the community may benefit from a person’s service, but a person harms their own mental health and well-being in the process.

Commensalistic A commensalistic relationship is where one benefits while the other remains untouched. This occurs when a person participates to help the community because they are inclined to do so, but the person does not build a personal reason or connection for serving.

Mutualistic! Easily, the best possible option is mutualism! A mutualistic relationship occurs when both involved parties benefit from the interaction. Every person serving their community should seek to find a mutualistic relationship with their community. They should find something they personally believe should be changed and take initiative/assertiveness to be the difference. When a student goes out of their way to serve others, they get personal benefits: from improved well-being of life, improved mental health, building friendships, etc. Additionally, it allows great opportunities to build stronger leadership, communication, accountability, and proper project management skills. Promoting this means that the community is also positively impacted –through this sort of relationship– because of the student’s desire to create lasting change. ​ Educating high school and college students on the importance of volunteerism, but more so a healthy and mutualistic relationship, can help in more ways than one. These students receive the most incentives and have autonomy and resources to take action. Especially in means of receptiveness, they are able to correlate the teachings of their (required) biology courses to this effective example. Finding my own mutualistic relationship with service is what helped me through the most challenging years of my life, and allowed me to create meaningful projects for my community. I now have the ability to share this revolutionary finding with my peers...

Welcome to Symbiosis of Service and the start of an exciting new journey. Help me inspire Generation Z to live a little more positively and selflessly!

Love, Halle