One fairly common internship or volunteer activity for Christian college students is working with a church youth group or a similar organization. If you aren’t interning for your major you might wonder what is so great about working with a bunch of rowdy, energetic kids. There are, however, plenty of potential benefits that have nothing to do with checking a box on your graduation requirements.

1. You get to meet and work with some really awesome people.

It takes a special kind of person to be able to manage 10 or 15 children in a confined space while still enjoying it. Youth workers tend to be able to take a rough day in stride, handle minor emergencies calmly and with a smile, and somehow manage to keep anyone from accidental death. And then there’s the kids themselves, who have apparently boundless energy and limitless potential for mischief. All that enthusiasm can be contagious rather than exhausting, however. Sometimes after a long week of classes and homework it’s a great recharge.

2. It’s good experience.

In ten or fifteen years, that kid currently attempting to use a rolling chair and a pool cue in a reenactment of a medieval joust may be your own. Having some prior experience dealing with the antics of young people might prevent headaches down the road. Hopefully though, your admonitions to your own children about not playing with pointy things won’t include a personal account sending someone to the emergency room because it really is true that “it's all fun and games until someone gets poked in the eye”.

3. You can be a great mentor.

Remember when you were in middle school or high school and you looked up to that relative or family friend in college as so grown up and responsible? While you may be realizing that college students aren’t quite the indomitable heroes you once assumed, that doesn’t mean your younger charges don’t feel that way about you. Setting a good example for them might make a world of difference. And while you’re at it, you may want to let them down easy about the realities of college life!

4. It gives you a break from thinking about homework.

I mean really, who can remember that there’s a five-page paper due in class next week when your biggest problem is getting someone to stop hitting his or her best friend with a giant stuffed animal? That hour or two penciled into your schedule every week for your volunteer time might be the thing you look forward to most in the middle of class stress.

5. It can look good on a resume.

Sure, that isn’t the most important thing you’re looking at when you decide to volunteer (at least hopefully it isn’t!) but volunteer activities are a good way to flesh out your resume and show people you care about more than just making money. Plus, if potential employers know that you can manage to keep a group of high-energy kids from getting into too much trouble, they’ll know you’re capable of working with just about anyone.

6. You’ll have a lot of fun!

If you were ever part of a youth group you probably remember how much fun the activities were. Watching someone trying desperately to figure out how bobbing for apples works or attempting to demonstrate a difficult word during Charades will probably make you laugh at your own memories and maybe make you secretly glad it isn’t you this time! But you don’t have to just be a spectator. After all, Telephone Pictionary is so much more fun when your students get to see your own artistic talent (or lack thereof) and laugh over your guesses as to what their pictures were.

All in all, volunteering with a youth organization or church group can be a fun and rewarding experience. You’ll get to hang out with some awesome people and for a couple of hours, maybe even forget that you’re a college student and get the chance to feel like a kid again. That’s a rare thing to find among reading assignments and binders full of due dates.