The themes of service and time are evident in each story as characters are expected to dedicate a specific portion of their senior year in high school helping other people in some manner. The anthology's title, Doing Time: Notes from the Undergrad, implies that the service is viewed as being punitive and comparable to a prison sentence by many of the participants. Some characters consider required service as another high school ritual and do not take it seriously. They live on the periphery of both teenage and adult spheres, belonging to neither, and endure a culture which fosters antagonism, causing many characters to expect hostility not kindness. Most characters are flawed in some manner and learn more life lessons outside classrooms by interacting with people through forced service. Although they are often insecure and disillusioned, many of the volunteers become introspective due to their...