When asked about how he finds time to balance all of his activities with his academic work, he replied, "I don't sleep much." But Jones doesn't mind because he finds participating in his community to be an important part of his experience at the College. On top of his community service activities, he is involved in a Jazz Combo called The Supreme Court. Jones is also a disc jockey for WAMH and he is starting to get involved in The Indicator.
Jones doesn't recall any specific community outreach activities that he was engaged in prior to coming to the College. Now, he finds himself committing many hours a week to tutoring and coordinating events for MassPIRG. He found that getting involved at the College was easy because there were a lot of information sessions available to him as a first-year student.
Coming from the suburbs of Seattle, Wash., specifically from a town called Edmonds, Jones feels that being involved in the projects of Holyoke and lower-income communities such as Springfield, Mass., has really taken him out of his bubble. Jones started tutoring in El Arco Iris, an after school program at Holyoke after visiting the city during his Community Orientation Trip his first year. He prefers not to view tutoring as community service; instead, he sees it as an opportunity for mutual growth between him and his students that comes from building friendships.
Jones advised that people should try different things and dedicate themselves to others that they feel most passionate about.
Though he has thought about narrowing down his activities, he still finds himself struggling to do so because he sees the importance of each one and the necessity of commitment. One wonders how an Amherst student can find the time to be actively involved in so many different community activities on top of all his class work and other school activities. Still, Jones manages to do so because he views all three to be important parts of his Amherst experience.
When asked about his future plans, Jones wasn't entirely sure because he was considering law school and the field of education as two of many options. However, he was sure that his community service experiences and activities would definitely have an impact in what he would do in the future. The College provides a lot of opportunities for students to be involved in nearby communities.
In his short time here, Jones has already become involved in a few of his immediate communities, ranging from Amherst to Holyoke to Springfield. His commitment to service should be a beacon for others at the College; when I asked a fellow student what she knows about Jones, she replied, "Well, he does just about everything."
He certainly does.