A Hidden Minor: Leadership, Spirituality, and Social Innovation

This minor is an excellent way to combine a love of service into your education. Shaping Change: Spirituality, Service, and Social Justice is a great class for those who want to pursue this minor because it gives you a great opportunity to perform service as a college student. One requirement is we have to volunteer with an organization for 20 hours throughout the semester.

I volunteered at my community center in Queens called the CommonPoint. I volunteered at the basketball, music and karate classes for children. I also volunteered at the food pantry because I am passionate about helping increase access to food. Both experiences were rewarding because I was able to give my time to two different groups of people. The 20-hour requirement may sound like a lot, but as long as you plan ahead you can space it out easily and you will be fine!

Also, this class allows you to read extremely fascinating texts that allow you to gain a deeper understanding about service and its complex relationship with society. For example, after reading Karen Armstrong’s The Great Transformation and my service experience at Commonpoint Queens, I have learned that service means an opportunity to be a part of a larger cause or entity that is not always about you.

In my daily life, sometimes it is easy to feel alone and you are only doing tasks simply because you have to. Service allows me to step into a new unfamiliar space and provide much needed disruption to my daily routine. Service enables you to see yourself in different ways you may have never thought of before. For example, I noticed I loved working kids and I gained more confidence in myself talking to the other volunteers at the pantry. Through working with children with disabilities at the Basketball Buddies program, I learned that one needs patience and kindness for service, which are core values that can be found in any religion.

Before college, I also attended a Catholic high school. For me, religion has played a role in my life even though it may not have been my own. As a Hindu attending a Catholic high school, I appreciated the opportunity to draw cross-theological connections between both faiths. For instance, Hinduism and Christianity do value being of service to others whether it is humans, creatures, or God. While the definitions and social contexts of service may differ, both religions treat service as a core value, as a sign of human goodness, and a guaranteed path to salvation or heaven. This class helped me explore those crucial parts of my identity.

Honestly speaking, I did not realize that religion and faith played a huge role in my life. The Leadership, Spirituality and Social Innovation minor also allows you to bridge connections across different religions and gives you an opportunity to study different ways of religious thought. One time in class, we did an exercise where we read an excerpt of different religious texts such as the Bible, Bhagavad Gita, Quran and Torah. I personally found it very enlightening that all of them had the same message of love, peace, and living in service to fellow humans. 

My inspiration for service derives greatly from my personal life. When I was younger, I used to take speech therapy classes and people would often make assumptions about my ability to talk since I was extremely quiet. However, as I got older, I learned the importance of my speech therapy classes because if I did not get help when I was small, I do not believe I would be where I am today. During my time in high school, I started to volunteer with Commonpoint during my freshman summer. Additionally, I volunteered with an organization called Smile Train that specialized in providing cleft services which included surgery as well as therapy services for children.