There is the student as they present themselves, but the college is more interested in the student as others see them becoming in their adulthood. Seeing this through the eyes of a mentoring adult figure is the best insight into the young person, so this becomes part of the requirements from the scholastic institution. Honor begins at the hometown and the people you have grown up with.
The letter of recommendation for college admissions should not come from a close relative, a friend, a girlfriend or even a neighbor. The job reference or words from a parental guardian are fine for some things, but they will not suffice for college references. The best college letter of recommendation comes from someone that is both a mentor and an impartial outsider. Such people might be a minister, priest, an academic teacher, an athletic coach, an employer or anyone who may have mentored you in the past. They are most effective if they are writing you a college recommendation letter to enter a field that they are an expert in themselves, such as having worked in a law office during the summer for a local attorney. When an attorney writes a recommendation for you to enter a law school program, it goes a long way to your credibility as a potential student for the school in question.
Your college choice becomes your surrogate family for several years, so a letter of recommendation for college is not so much to ask from any qualified student.