What can you do with one percent? In most cases the answer is, not too much. For example, one percent more of that The Den by Denny’s Grand Slamwich is only an extra 14 calories or the equivalent of about two gummy bears. One percent of your day is about 14 minutes or about the time it takes to get from the North Residential Village to Strosacker Auditorium. No matter how you break it down, One percent of just about anything, is really nothing at all. Or is it?

This week, I was reading over the requirements for the Center for Civic Engagement and Learning (CCEL) Scholars Program. For those who are unfamiliar with it, CCEL Scholars is a program to which CWRU students commit, among other requirements, 50 hours of their time over the course of the academic year to volunteer and provide services to the community. What struck me was that these 50 hours equate to just over, you guessed it, one percent of a Case Western Reserve University student’s waking hours during an academic year.

50 hours of services / [(24 hrs/day – 6 hrs/day) x 7 days/week x 30 weeks/academic year] = ~ 1.3%

With their one percent, these CCEL Scholars tutor local students on Saturday mornings at the Church of the Covenant, build homes for local families through Habitat for Humanity and give back to the community through countless other acts that improve and give back to the city we call home. So as we begin this new year, let’s remember the power of our one percent. Let’s remember that as insignificant as it may seem, many of our classmates have used it to affect the lives of real people right here in our community.  And let’s not forget that with a little work, we can all do the same.