How one Hong Kong student won a coveted Princeton Book Award
Service excellence a major criterion of prize, underscoring the importance universities attach to serving communities
One of my students, Aaron Lit Tsz-ki, is one of the recipients of this year's coveted Princeton Book Award.
Conferred by the Princeton Club of Hong Kong, the award was initiated in 2008. "We recognise that all three pillars of academic excellence, service excellence, and leadership excellence are required to fulfil the Princeton motto: In the nation's service, and in the service of all nations," says Dominic Mario Notario, chair of the book award committee.
This summer thousands of students will undertake "community service" to hone their profiles for college admissions. After all, reports say it ranks fourth among the factors considered for admission with SAT scores, examination results and extracurricular activities being the top three contenders. Its importance in the admission process is placed above reference letters and interviews.
So why do universities set store by service and does it differ from volunteering?
Using survey data from 12 countries Femida Handy, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania, examined undergraduate motivations to volunteer, volunteer participation, and country differences. Her findings suggest students motivated by résumé building have a lower intensity of volunteering. And in countries with a positive signalling value of volunteering, student volunteering rates are higher.
The author of Ten Professional Development Benefits of Volunteering (Everything I Learned in Life I Learned Through Volunteering), Mary Merrill, says volunteering is the perfect vehicle to discover and develop a new skill. Because volunteering involves a deliberate choice, volunteers express a sense of achievement that stems from one's desire to extend oneself to others.
Volunteering also improves career options. A survey carried out by TimeBank through Reed Executive showed that among 200 of Britain's leading businesses, 73 per cent of employers would recruit a candidate with volunteering experience over one without. Significantly, 94 per cent of employers believe that volunteering can add to skills and 94 per cent of employees who volunteered to learn new skills had benefited either by getting their first job, improving their salary, or being promoted.