East Villagers Service Scholar Essay Contest 2010
Click here for the 2011 Contest. This is the first year the East Villagers Non-Profit Community is offering a chance for young service scholars within the local community to express their passion for community service through essay writing and art. Our goal is to promote a spirit of volunteerism among the younger generation around the world. Winners from Northern California will be invited to read their essays at the annual Service Scholar Award Celebration hosted by the Ping & Amy Chao Family Foundation. Students must complete 5 hours of community service and fill out the Service Requirement Form to provide proof. All students enrolled in schools Kindergarten through High School in the United States and Canada are eligible to apply.
Choose one of the following prompts to write an essay:
Prompt 1: Please share a volunteer experience and its impact on your life.
Prompt 2: Why is community service important in your life?
Prompt 3: Share about an experience when someone helped you and how it impacted your life.
Poster Theme: Having Fun, Helping Others
Community Service Requirement: All applicants must complete 5 hours of community service and show proof of service to quality for the contest.
Contest Deadline: Monday, May 31, 2010, 5:00pm P.S.T.
High School (1000 – 1500 words)
Middle School (500 – 750 words)
KG – Grade 5 Poster Contest (Maximum Size 16″ x 20″)
Awards
High School (9-12th Grade)
1st Place $500, 2nd Place $350, 3rd Place $150
Middle School (6-8th Grade)
1st Place $300, 2nd Place $200, 3rd Place $75
Elementary School (KG – 5th Grade)
1st Place $100, 2nd Place $75, 3rd Place $50
Submission Instructions
1. Essay entries must be posted as a blog entry on www.eastvillagers.org. Click the sign up button at the top to register.
2. Contest Entry Form & Service Requirement Form, and original essay copy should be mailed to 800 High Street, Suite 408, Palo Alto, CA 94301 or faxed to (650) 323-2179.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. Is this open to only Northern California students? No, this is open to all students enrolled in K-12 throughout the United States and Canada.
2. How do I post a blog entry? Click create a blog entry at the top.
3. Why are there funny codes on my blog entry? First paste your word document into notepad, and then paste it into the blog editor to clear word formatting.
4. I am confused about the instructions, what am I supposed to do? Two simple steps: a) Mail the paper application, service requirement, and paper essay to us b) Post your essay as a blog entry
5. Can I send in past certificates and proof of community service instead of getting more signatures for the service requirement? Yes.
Please email eastvillagers@gmail.com or call (650) 924-1104 for more information.
This Contest is Sponsored by the Ping & Amy Chao Family Foundation to Promote a Spirit of Volunteerism Among the Younger Generation.
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I am having troubles publishing my essay as a post so it is here:
Throughout life I have volunteered with my mother for various reasons. Help set up a community race or help enter data for the High School’s Parent Teacher Student Association. However, these were just things I did, not because I necessarily wanted to or because they looked good to the community, but because my mom told me to. That was fine with me, the events never took much time or were too complicated and I was able to spend time with my mom while completing the tasks. However, in high school I learned from my volunteer opportunities, and I cannot say my life is quite the same. My mom wanted me to experience more in life, but the act of volunteering was something that I needed to discover on my own.
This year I have been given the opportunity to both volunteer in and hold a food drive for the local food bank. From Volunteering I have learned about the people who come use this assistance. Many people only come one time, others come because they have lost a job, or need a little bit of food to help feed their children. None of them have been selfish or greedy. If we are giving out dried beans among other things, and they have a cupboard full of dried beans, they will leave them for someone else, who may just need them more. The very first think I learned was to get rid of stereotypes. When I first walked into the food bank I had to wipe out every misconception of food bank users, because they are not true.
One thing that really surprised me with this volunteer service was the relationships that I formed. I expected to possibly make relationships with other volunteers, but I did not expected to make connections with the food bank patrons. There is one lady that I will always remember. Every week she came in with pictures of her new born baby to show us. I came to expect and get excited to see this lady, and her baby. One or two times she even brought in her baby, and she was even cuter in real life. Another girl, who was a college student, would come in and tell me about her week. Her stories and experiences really inspired me, because she was just trying to get through college. Through the food bank, this has became a reality for her. The people I met while volunteering at the local food bank are people that I will never forget.
Programs such as food banks would not be able to run without the use of volunteers. Volunteers are the people who sort, distribute and collect the food. Through the food drive that I held, I was able to raise 3,588 pounds of food, enough to feed over 100 people for a week. Some days when I went to go collect food I wondered why until I realized back to the cause that I was giving back to. When the patrons of the food bank receive food they are able to pay their bills, and stay off the street. Without public assistance programs such as these poverty and hunger rates would be a lot greater in many towns. I never before really understood the scale of this program before. Once or twice I had driven by the Food bank on my way home from school during distribution hours and I saw the people, but before they were just faces. Before volunteering, I never put the people with a name and a story. Every single person who walks through the doors of the food bank has a story that is distinct from one another.
My work at the food bank, both collecting donations, and volunteering may seem menial in the scheme of things. However, without this work being done many people in my community would be left hungry, and more children in my community would be going to bed hungry. To many, the food bank, is a program to help people get back onto their feet when they have fallen, and to be able to live a greater life. Very few people live their whole lives using this aid, and most quit going once they are able to buy their own food. I found through my work that volunteers are needed for most public assistance programs to make them run smoothly, because the few paid workers are not able to do everything themselves.
Through this experience I learned what volunteering can do for my own life. I feel good helping others and knowing their life is a little bit better due to my help. Even if it is just by smiling and having them smile back. Before I always thought volunteering was something to do to get into college, or to do to look good by others. However, it really is not. It is an act for me to help my community. I live in this town, and I live among a great diversity of people. These people are a part of my life, so I want them to have the same chances and happiness that I have. I do not want them to be living on the street because they cannot do something as simple as pay the rent because having food is more important. Volunteering is more than just a mindless act, it is a true experience of life.
The Bellingham food bank, builds the community in which I live in, by keeping food on the tables of all people. I am proud to say that I help out this local cause. There are vast amounts of people in my community that just need a little bit of assistance to help them on their feet, and that is what the food bank does. All of my life volunteering has been a way to prove something, until now. Now volunteering is a way to give back to my community, and also connect with members of my community that I would not have otherwise known.
East Villagers Service Scholar Essay: Prompt 3
Over the years I have noticed how my town has lost its sense of community. Violence and hostility has increased and I don’t feel as welcomed as I used to feel. Recognizing this problem, I decided to stop complaining about what was wrong and just get up and do something about it. I am going to be leaving my community when I go off to college in the fall and I wanted to contribute to my town before I left. I have done many projects in my community and each project has positively impacted my left and molded my character. I want to share my experiences with you to give you a better understanding of exactly what I accomplished in my community over the years.
During the summer of 2008 and 2009 I volunteered to help out in summer programs at the Norristown Police Athletic League Center. Our first activity took place at the Norristown Police Athletic League (PAL). I volunteered in the art program from July 13th to July 17th at the time of 1pm to 4pm. Here I participated in the planning and creating of three benches that are now outside of the PAL building. We got a lot done for only four days of work. The first day everybody introduced themselves. We tried to get to know the kids and what they liked so we could brain storm ideas of what to put on the benches. We made sure each bench had a community theme: unity, child’s play, and cities of the world. The second day we continued planning, we decided on our final themes and immediately got to work by drawing sketches and tracing pictures to transfer over to the wood planks. Day three consisted of transferring the traces over to the wood and beginning to paint. The last day everyone focused on finishing up the benches and cleaning up. The second summer I helped the cheerleading instructor at the PAL cheerleading camp. I assisted her with teaching the children cheers and taking them to the bathroom. I wanted to make children feel loved and give them a sense of community as well.
I also served the community by working with other families especially children. I have volunteered my time in projects such as assisting family’s select donated Halloween costumes, and helping the Norristown Rotary Club with summer school children reading programs. I also helped the Outreach Program for Coatesville, gathering personal supplies and blankets for families that were displaced due to an arsonist and donating my bicycle to Pedals for Progress, an international campaign that delivers bicycles to third world countries for transportation, and donated several suitcases to the Foster Care program for local underprivileged children so that they would not carry their clothes in garbage bags.
My rewards for being active in the community have rarely been physical. They are all usually mental and emotional. They make my character stronger while making my heart softer. I really enjoy being able to work with others that need so much help. Making new friends and meeting new people were other perks to such a strong involvement. I have a pretty tough schedule, but I have always tried to make spare time for others. I have learned that not everything can be about yourself; you have to put others in front of you so they can receive help.
I did all of these projects to make a difference in my community. Now when I see the children I worked with and the benches I helped paint I feel proud of what I accomplished. Even the projects where I haven’t seen the outcomes, it still feels great to lend a helping hand. Nobody can ever take the feeling of giving away from me. I am very happy I left my mark in the community before I leave for into college.
East Villagers Service Scholar Essay:Prompt 1
Hackensack River Clean Up and Sustainability Educational Initiative
My project was founded on one simple premise: human beings, in fact all living creatures, have an inherent right to clean water. Every day at school, students look out the window to see the polluted Hackensack River juxtaposed with a horizon of ominous corporate offices, hotels, and entertainment centers. Currently, a 100 foot buffer zone, overrun with garbage and permeated with pollution, separates the football field from the river itself. My passion to conserve, protect, and beautify the Hackensack River and its immediate onshore surroundings stem from my biology teacher, Ms. Carol Zepatos, who reminds students how imminent environmental changes must be made in order to combat river pollution and revive the picturesque beauty the river once had. Never will I forget a lab in which water tests exhibited extremely high levels of toxic chemicals as well as abnormal pH. It is bad enough we as humans have to live in a community adjacent to the state’s most polluted watershed, but it is alarming that both fish and bird lives depend on the river’s environment. For me, this was an environmental wakeup call that compelled me to take immediate action in order to alleviate the problem.
My project transformed an unattractive river walk way, a rare “green” recreational area in an urban city, into a more visually pleasing area for the public and a safer habitat for wildlife to thrive. Through the Hackensack River Clean Up and Planting, I bridged various dimensions of the community together in search for a common goal: to improve the environment. Not only did I inspire them to be committed to the environment, but I increased volunteer involvement for my future projects. I educated the public with information about the river through a school and community wide educational outreach program. I run my school’s SkillsUSA chapter, an organization premised on civil service and technical skills. Subsequently, I wanted to create a community service project that fulfilled a commitment to service and simultaneously shed positive light on the importance of technical education. Inspired by an environmental class I took, I instituted a river cleanup program that not only stressed environmental conservation and community cooperation, but was also sustainable as future generations of students will continue the project. I wanted to have an immense impact on the mile long walkway near my school so I began by reaching out for resources by applying to community service grants. I ran a school wide campaign that emphasized education and solicited over a hundred volunteers. Additionally, I had a nonprofit booth at the NJ PSEG Green Fest where I presented on my project to raise awareness and was interviewed in the newspaper and on television.
The PSEG Green Fest and the vast media attention I received allowed me to achieve one of my most prominent goals: to increase the audience of our project in order to have a wider net of exposure for our project. For example, it should be noted that the Bergen Record has over 82,000 daily subscribers as well as a popular website. Also, News 12 broadcasts to over 107,000 homes in New Jersey. As a result, viewers and readers learned about the inspiration behind the project and my efforts to bring the community together. More importantly, I challenged them to take an active part in preserving the environment in their areas and to reach out to students to take a role as well since they are the next generation of leaders and conservationists. The media and the Green Fest provided me excellent opportunities to reach out to others; however, I also took steps in my school community to spread the word.
I believe that sustainability and long term positive improvement in clean up are highly dependent on educating the next generation of conservationists- students. Subsequently, I hosted presentations for guest speakers such as the aforementioned landscaper to spend an hour talking to students about the challenges the river currently faces and measures that need to be imminently taken in order to reverse the trend of pollution. Whenever an opportunity rose, such as the visit of sixty students from Hong Kong, I capitalized on it. I encouraged them to initiate a similar river cleanup program in their city as they told me about similarly discouraging details about their environment. I even went to the grade school next to my high school and gave an interactive lesson to a class of twenty five students about small measures they can take in their daily lives to become less taxing on the environment.
Tangibly, the results have been extremely positive already as new plants have taken life upon the river, creating the foundation for healthy food for the animals and the plants will facilitate the filtering of toxic pollutants as well. By providing the Bergen County public with a beautiful “green” pathway, we will enhance public appreciation for the Hackensack River, thereby encouraging public participation in protecting the river’s environment. In the future, at least one major cleanup will be conducted every three months with smaller, more focused cleanups interspersed. In the spring, plantings will be continued and once the water is warmer, coir log installation will be continued down the coast to reduce erosion. In March, I will return to the PSEG Green Fest to demonstrate the impact that one student had on the environment so that more students will be inspired to create similar projects.
The Value of Time
“There aren’t many like you anymore! Always keep your head up.” I hear this almost every day from a woman who really influences my life and makes me see my full potential. She just happens to be about 70 years older than me. Her name is Mary and I met her over the summer when I began volunteering at a senior living center. At first I did the volunteering to quickly earn my community service hours so I could be done with them for graduation, but I never would have guessed that this little 88 year old would change my outlook on life. After spending time with the residents, I began to build up a relationship with a few of them and they looked forward to my visits. They would sit by the door in their wheelchairs and wait for me to walk in, eagerly waiting for me to fill them in on what was happening in my life. The genuine interest they showed in what was going on in my life made me appreciate them all the more. Mary and Ted have been through it all, and knew exactly what to say to make me see the bigger picture. They would offer their advice and tell me stories about when they were my age, “back when dinosaurs roamed the Earth”, as Ted tells me.
Seeing how valuable spending time together is to them really made me realize that one of the best gifts you can give someone is simply your time. Being a busy student in high school, i never had a lot of spare time to spend with people who needed it the most. Selfishly, the last thing on my list was to visit the seniors. Before i started my volunteering, i thought it would be a huge waste of time and i would never get anything out of it. However, after spending just a few weeks with the residents, i noticed a big change in them and myself. They would get so lonely without having a regular visitor; that alone was enough motivation for me to come in and talk with them.
When i got to the senior center, i would talk with Mary and Ted, then make my rounds to each resident. Some wanted me to do their nails, others wanted me to sit and watch TV with them. Afterwards, there was usually a game of bingo to help out with. My favorite was when they told stories about how different their childhood was compared to kids growing up today. It’s hard for me to imagine a time without cell phones or a computer for entertainment, but for them; it was all they knew.
Towards the end of the summer, their memories had started to slip and I began to hear the same stories over and over again each time I would visit. I could tell you about the time Ted broke his arm as a kid by jumping off a tire swing, or how Irene used to secretly skip church when she was a teenager. These stories have been told to me so many times, i feel like i was actually there with them. But Mary was different. She was so determined to stay strong mentally and physically. She refused to let doctors put a time limit on her life, even when she struggled with osteoporosis so badly, there were times she could not even stand.
Mary always stressed to me the importance of getting a good education and going to college since she never had that opportunity. Growing up with nine siblings right after the Great Depression, her chance never came since money was very tight. So in an effort to make up for it, she pushed her three children through college and she encouraged me to do the same. Her independent, energetic spirit would lead anyone to believe that she was well educated and took her career to high places. I was shocked to find out that she never had a career, choosing instead to devote her time to her kids and grandkids. She told me how important staying strong to what I believe in will be later on in my life and that I should never let anyone say I cannot do something. The only one that is allowed to define my future is me.
Mary was my inspiration to do better in every aspect of my life and push myself into the college of my dreams. She told me never to look at how much money I will make at a job, because if I dread going to work every day, the high salary won’t matter at all. Do something you love and appreciate, not something that will get you a big house, because in the end, no one will see you for how nice your car was or how big your house was. They will see you for your character and the lives you touched and inspired by chasing your dreams. I have heard this before, but seeing Mary in her little apartment at the senior center made me put it into perspective. Looking at her now, I would not be able to tell you if she might have been rich when she was younger, but I could tell you that she touched many lives and she put everyone before herself; which is all that matters.
With her encouragement, I will going to go to Olivet Nazarene University for a degree in political science. From there, my dream is to go to law school. I want to fight for the people whose rights and freedoms are being challenged. The people who lack money to pay legal fees for their own justice. Mary helped me realize that this is truly what I want, she showed me devotion and determination to accomplish my goals. As she says, “If the dream is big enough, and you want it bad enough, you’ll get there. You define your future.”
Because of Mary, I know exactly what I want to do with my life and how I’m going to get there. Mary has no idea how much she has inspired me, but I hope to show her one day by graduating from law school and pursuing my dream. For the both of us.
your essay is wonderful. i myself work at a local nursing home and everything you have written is true and touches me to the core. im glad i am not the only one who feels this way! my friends laugh at me and jest when i say, “no thanks guys i have to go visit at the nursing home!”. but i know i ca learn so much in a 3hr. visit there than by hanging out woth my girls. don;t get me wrong i love them, but my people at the nursing home hold a very special place.
East Villagers Service Scholar Essay: Prompt 1
Fore! Ways to Love Community Service
When, at the beginning of my freshman year in high school, my parents asked me if I’d like to take up golf and join the school’s golf team, I flatly declined. I had tried golf once before, and it hadn’t worked out for me. Granted, I had been young—maybe eight or nine—but I still wasn’t interested in starting back up. I had liked golf at one point. When I first began, I loved playing, simply because of the kids I met. They were all nice, and very friendly, and so were all of the coaches. But somehow or another, I lost interest (as children often do) and decided never to play golf again.
I was not happy when my parents presented the idea of playing for the school’s golf team. When I gave them a negative answer, they told me that they had already signed me up and that I was going to play. As unhappy as I was, I reluctantly agreed, and my parents signed me up for lessons the next day.
My lessons began at the same place that I had last played golf—The First Tee of Chesterfield. The First Tee is a large organization around my hometown and around the entire country. As a non-profit company, they aim at exposing less privileged children to the game of golf while teaching valuable life skills and core values in the process. In spite of all of these pure intentions, I still disliked the facility.
My new coach’s name was Meredith Roberts, whom I had never met before; she was new to The First Tee of Chesterfield. I tried my best to show her how much I disliked being on the golf course and how I was never coming back, but Meredith was so nice, even in spite of my anger. By the end of the thirty minute lesson, Meredith had me laughing and smiling as if golf were my favorite thing in the world.
I joined the golf team, but my reluctance returned when I realized how bad I was compared to the other guys on the team. My friend Ashley and I were the only girls on the team, and we were equally bad at the sport; however, as I took part in more and more lessons with Meredith, I made major progress. The progress wasn’t very visible, that is, until I entered my sophomore year as part of the team. I had far surpassed Ashley, and even one or two of the guys. They slowly began to accept me, and we all became good friends.
It soon dawned on me how much of a positive influence golf had been on my life. I had met so many wonderful new people. Meredith, the coach whom I had once so disliked, was becoming my best friend. I was spending every afternoon at the golf course, practicing and honing my skills. Soon, I re-joined the programs at The First Tee and became an active member in the organization.
I continue my activities at The First Tee to this day. While Meredith has been transferred to another facility, I am still very active at The First Tee of Chesterfield. Craig Wood, the head of youth programs at The First Tee, has become my new mentor. I respect him and try to assist him in any way I can.
Because I am a senior member at The First Tee, I now assist with coaching the younger children. I help to mentor young participants by demonstrating golf and life skills on and off the course. I assist them when they have issues with golf, and I help to teach the programming classes on weekends when there are not enough coaches available. I love working with the young kids; they’re always so spontaneous and fun. I remember one day when we were questioning them about the previous week’s lesson. We had asked what we learned, and one child answered “putting.” We told him this was correct, and asked what specifically we had learned about the topic. One kid stood up and excitedly answered “chipping!” Maybe this isn’t the funniest story, but to a golfer, it’s hilarious. Days like this are typical within the programs. Every day is exciting and new, and I have fun with every new class of participants.
Another responsibility of mine involves being a member of the Junior Council for my First Tee Chapter. As a part of this council, I help Craig and the other coaches to organize and implement many tournaments, games, and camps at our First Tee chapter. I love working on this council. I have always been a very organized person, and I enjoy being on the planning committees for these events. I feel that I can, not only, improve myself and my own skills through these activities, but also help other participants and the rest of the community by making these events successful.
Finally, and most close to my heart, is the Girls Golf Club at our First Tee chapter. This club has always been the center of my activities at The First Tee, mostly because I am passionate about getting girls involved in golf, and also because Meredith has always run this program. I have been an active participant in this club for two years, and this time around I am taking on a higher role.
Upon Meredith’s transfer, she had to give up running Girls Golf Club here in Chesterfield. This means, essentially, that Craig will now be running the group. Obviously, Craig is not a girl, so he has asked me to help take on the leadership role within the club and help him organize and run it during this golf season. I have graciously accepted the offer, and now spend a lot of weekend and afternoon hours at his office trying to plan for the fast approaching spring season. I know that through my lessons from Meredith, and with my organizational skills, Craig’s experience, and our combined enthusiasm and determination, we can make this club more successful than it has ever been before.
While these things may seem trivial to anyone not interested in the golf community, they are not. Golf not only teaches a sport, but also teaches a set of valuable life skills that people young and old can use on and off the course. Learning STAR (Stop Think Anticipate Respond) and how to form a goal ladder are only two of the many key things that The First Tee has taught me and many other kids about learning how to make great decisions and choices in life. The First Tee has essentially become my second family. Every coach and mentor I have ever met in relation to the organization has been nothing but kind and generous, and they have become like brothers, sisters, aunts, and uncles to me. The least I can do to thank them is to give back to them and my community, and hopefully to produce golfers, who, life myself, feel the need to give back. If I can produce just one of them through my efforts at The First Tee, I will have succeeded in my goal. I hope to continue giving back to my community through The First Tee throughout my teenage years and beyond.
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Being the Change
My curiosity with human rights began when my Iranian parents recounted both the horrors and the aspirations of the 1979 Revolution. I became fascinated with the country of my heritage and its turbulent relations with the country I call home.
My parents opened my eyes to Iran’s inner political strife, and from there, my gaze wandered to other conflicts: the dictatorship in Zimbabwe, the junta in Burma, and the genocide in Darfur.
Darfur left the deepest impression on me. I could not comprehend how such atrocities are committed without international outcry. The slogan ‘never again’ is merely that- a slogan, not an action. No matter our skin color, we are all members of the human race. As the details of Darfur’s horrors were embedded into my conscience, I needed to take a stand. My life felt empty, as I lived in such a sheltered community where I only thought about myself. I invited Dr. Ashis Brahma, the sole doctor in a Darfur refugee camp of 27,000, to speak about his experiences- little did I know of the movement I was about to ignite in my community.
I poured much of my energy and soul into planning the event. From speaking to the media, sponsors, donors and politicians, I discovered an outlet to translate my passion into action.
On the day of the event, as I addressed an audience of over 900 students, I had a realization. With a few months of dedication, I was able to educate and encourage hundreds to become involved. Imagining what could be accomplished in a lifetime, I realized the difference I could make.
I founded the first high school STAND (student anti-genocide coalition) chapter in Minnesota. In just six months, we had raised over ten thousand dollars, and educated our politicians on Darfur, urging them to take action. We organized a rally at the State Capitol for President Obama’s 100th day in office, and hosted two more Darfur humanitarian workers, who spoke of genocides past and present. High schools in neighboring communities became so inspired by our work that they created their own STAND chapters. As young people raised their voices in 1979, thirty years later, we raise ours.
I now view success as the ability to make a difference in the lives of others. When I hear of the suffering of the innocent, I feel obliged to help. But with what voice is their suffering conveyed? This question compels me to lend my voice to those who have been robbed of their own. I hope to translate my passion to other young people, so that together, we become not only the leaders of tomorrow- but of today.
I’m sorry, I didn’t see the 1000 minimum word count. Here is the second part of my essay:
Besides STAND, I’m also involved with education equality and the violin. I’ve been playing the violin since the age of three, and have realized the great impact it has made on my life. Here is an essay on my work with my other organization, Music and the World:
I was sitting in the office of the orchestra director of Ramsey, an under funded Minneapolis public school, where over half of the students live in poverty. Every inch of the wall-space is covered with posters; Itzhak Perlman beams from above, while Yo-Yo Ma grins with a secret. Click. The tape begins to play. I hear chairs scuffle against the floor, and silence collects. As the orchestra begins, the music swells and reaches to the corners of the cluttered room. Regardless of mistakes, the collective sound of thirty determined children makes the music beautiful.
Yet many of these students cannot afford private lessons, let alone the cost of owning an instrument. I couldn’t bear the thought that many young people possess the drive but lack the opportunity to play music. In 2007, I resolved to take action, and founded Music and the World, a non-profit organization (musicandtheworld.org).
Music and the World collects and donates instruments to under-funded schools in Minneapolis. The students are then able to rent these instruments at a fraction of the actual cost (usually only $5 a month). Furthermore, I created a program where Edina High School orchestra members volunteer to tutor low-income, inter-city students. My work with STAND highlights human rights abuses from around the world. But not until I visited Ramsey did I realize the disparity in education between students living only a few miles apart. For a few hours a week, the tutor and the student, no matter their differences, are brought together by music.
In the future, I plan on creating a STAND chapter at Columbia University, where I am attending in the fall. Furthermore, I will continue my work with Music and the World to Harlem, close to campus. This question goes back to the fundamental question that has been debated since the beginning of mankind- what are the characteristics of being human? I believe that having empathy for one another is a fundamental keystone of humans. With empathy comes actively trying to make a difference, regardless if this hope succeeds or fails. It is this willingness to take a risk that can change the world, regardless of one’s initial goal.
East Villagers Service Scholar Essay Contest 2010
Prompt #1.
My Girl Scout troop of thirteen years had been deliberating over the idea of an international trip since middle school, and by sophomore year we had decided on a destination: Costa Rica. Specifically, a remote village named Colonía Libertád, located in the country’s mountainous northwestern region. Preparation was intense. For months we communicated with the people of Colonía Libertád from their sole computer, organizing service projects that would best suit their needs, and spending hundreds of hours organizing community book and shoe drives, and fundraising for school supplies. Finally in June of 2009, we departed Minnesota with 200 pairs of shoes, 200 bilingual children’s books, and a multitude of school supplies, all for the local children.
Prior to departure we’d been informed of the conditions surrounding our destination– considering their impoverished state we were instructed to leave all valuables at home, and not to make eye-contact or acknowledge the greetings of the local men. And we had quickly accepted these guidelines as correct, not knowing any better. We arrived in the sweltering outdoor airport looking only as girls with benevolent intent can; hiking boots, homogeneous quick-dry attire, and no makeup was the name of the game. After a four hour drive we arrived in Colonía Libertád, expecting to witness poverty everywhere. On a preliminary tour, I started to become aware that our predisposed notions regarding the conditions and cultural norms of the town were off-base. I’ll never forget when we walked into the tiny church and met the eyes of three impeccably dressed and groomed teenagers. We felt their gaze as they sized us up immediately, and justifiably, as seven bedraggled oafs. They snickered and turned back to their conversation, of which we could understand nothing. This was not the arrival I had imagined.
Our interpreter soon amended our prejudices, explaining that in their culture, a well-groomed appearance is paramount- even if the family can’t afford the latest book for school, or eats plain rice and beans for every meal. This was my first lesson in international travel- you will arrive with preconceived notions and act accordingly, sometimes with adverse results. The next step, however, is to learn from the people themselves, and leave with a greater understanding of another culture. So for days we labored in the hot sun, side by side with the community. We scraped mold off two-hundred feet of rock wall, re-cemented the pathways, painted the benches, removed weeds and planted flowers, and made a sign out of rocks and cement in the side of the hill reading “Parque del Colonía Libertád”- Liberty Colony Park. We had arrived at a place overgrown with weeds, crumbing walls, and dingy benches, and left a clean and attractive park. While these tangible results were indeed gratifying, the real reward was knowing that this place would strengthen the community. While we had initially thought the cultural barriers to be insurmountable, as we worked with people from the village on rehabilitating the community park to-be, these barriers began to crumble. When I was painting a wall or planting flowers side by side with Gabriélla or Raquel, it didn’t matter that we could hardly speak each other’s language.
The rehabilitation of the park was the most labor-intensive project we completed in Costa Rica, but we had spent the months preceding the trip vigorously collecting school supplies for the children, which they had indicated a need for. That was an aspect of the trip that distinguished it from others- we communicated with the village to find out their needs, then executed the projects with a personal touch. We work side-by-side with the community to restore the park, and hand-made cards for every child along with their allotment of school supplies. After the notebooks, pencils, crayons, and books were distributed they gave us a round of applause, then we enjoyed a makeshift game of “fútbol” in the dusty schoolyard. Soccer was a universal language which brought us together during our time in Costa Rica- our visit culminated in a match of our troop versus the girls team- we were slaughtered mercilessly, but the whole community came out to support us regardless, and we wouldn’t have had it any other way. The kindness and openheartedness the children and all the community showed towards us sunburned girls from Minnesota was boundless.
While in the beginning we worked together in silence, by the end of the trip we were joking and laughing with each other regardless of language. Looking back I remember the friends I made more than the time I spent at the beach- which is indeed saying something. On our last day, the entire town convened and together we planted a peace pole in the center of the park, effectively summing up the values this trip instilled and affirmed in me. These include the importance of learning about other cultures firsthand, something I hope to continue to experience throughout my life. However the most important idea I departed with was that of a global community; one with barriers which we can break through experience and active understanding. I intend to advocate these ideals and the message of volunteerism throughout my life; first in the Peace Corp, then in the Human Rights sector of the United Nations.
I learned from this experience that one cannot go into service projects with a benevolent attitude. Economic status can be merely luck of the draw, and if one person is more “blessed” in this area than others, it should be an incentive and means to promote economic equality, not a label to justify an “us versus them” perspective. This, for me, is one of the powers of service; whether I’m promoting community and education in Costa Rica, or simply working with children as the Daycare Assistant at my local homeless shelter, volunteerism breaks boundaries of culture, race, economic status, and age.
Volunteering for the Fire Department
On August 11th, 2009, I turned seventeen, successfully took my driving test, received my license, and started fire school. Nothing could have been more intimidating than starting fire school as a seventeen year old girl in a class full of 20 year old men (shall I dare call them men?). I walked into the room at 6:45pm and felt like I was already late. The class did not start until seven, yet the entire room was full. The senior instructor called my name and I walked to the front of the room. He addresses the entire class and says “this is one of our legacies” and then turns to me and says “no pressure”. Who was he kidding? But in actuality, I was probably the only one intimidated by him. That evening was the first of a very long process, one that was hard and forced me to conquer fears that I had not known that I had even had. Throughout the course that would enable me to become certified by the state as a firefighter, I successfully completed the smokehouse1, not once but twice. I climbed the anthill2 on the tower building, despite my fear of heights. And I passed my evaluations and sort of got over my fear of talking in front of people. I mean, it is not like they gave me any choice.
The class was a mixture of outdoor practical sessions where we were taught the skills that may someday save our lives or the lives of others. The hardest part of the class was the indoor sessions. They consisted of lectures that lasted a couple of hours and then a test on a material at the end. The information taught inside was just as important as the information taught outside. At the end of the class, we were required to take the state of New Jersey’s final exam for the Fire Fighter 1 course. It was a pretty intense test that I spent many hours studying for but in the end I believe it was worth it.
I have been volunteering in my fire department for over a year now, but I have mostly been doing community activities because of my age and lack of training. After about a month I received the results to my exam and I found out I passed. Now I am trained on what to do when I run calls, instead of just tagging along. I have learned a lot about myself and have done things I did not think I could do because of this commitment to the community. Being in the fire department is a big time commitment and I have spent over 450 hours volunteering with them since I joined in September 2008. Some of the activities that I have participated in besides fire school are Community Day, the community basketball game, Fire Prevention Day at the schools, and several overnight stand-by assignments at the actual firehouse. The chief is very insistent that my schoolwork comes first so my grades have not suffered because of my commitment to the fire department. In fact, pretty much the only thing that has changed is how much time I have spent helping others.
I was brought up to believe that helping others and community service needed to be a big part of your life. One of the reasons that I chose to serve my community through the fire department was because my dad has always been involved in his local department. I grew up hanging out down at the fire house and going to their events and it was not a hard choice for me to decide to join their family. The men I grew up respecting and admiring are now my friends and co-volunteers. A few new people have joined the department since me and have led to many new friendships. My father was very important in my process of becoming a member of the department. Throughout my training, he constantly supported me as well as gave me advice. I have always looked up to him because he is a firefighter and now I get to work by his side. It is a wonderful feeling to be able to share a volunteering experience with someone you love. Throughout all these activities, I learned a lot about myself and made some amazing friends. The fire service has always been known for being a brotherhood; well now they have a sister too.
Although I love volunteering with the fire department it is not what I want to do as a career. I have wanted to be a teacher for as long as I can remember. I have volunteered many times at the Burlington County Special Services School District. One of the reasons I have decided to become a teacher is because I want to be a part of molding children and opening their eyes to all their options. I want to help the children reach their potential so all doors are open to them when it come time to choosing a career. I have had some great teachers during my time in school and I hope that I can be the person that those teachers were for me. I want to study French and Italian and minor in history. I hope to teach at the high school level while going to school for my doctorate degree so that I can teach at the college level. I have always loved languages and I want to share my love of languages with my students. I also want to give back to the community by helping children realize their potential and having the children succeed to the best of their ability. After work, I would still be involved in the fire department but it would not be my full time job. Because community service has always been a part of my life, I have chosen paths that enable to help a large number of people. I hope to continue to serve the community for the rest of my life.
Foot notes
1. The smokehouse is a building designed to help firefighters deal with claustrophobia by forcing them to use other senses to get through a dark, smoke-filled building, wearing all of their personal protective equipment including SCBA.
2. The anthill is a series of ladders placed on the outside of a high rise building that you must climb in a systematic order, going in through the windows and down the stairs to go back out the window to a different ladder at a different level.
While some may define service as the ability to work, I think that it is much more than that. We, as humans, often get confused with giving service and providing services. Service is done for attention, recognition, and fame, but true service is the little things that you do unknowingly. Service is when you impact ones life. I personify the definition of true service most in my community church Girl Scout troop as a Senior Girl Scout and youth delegate. Girl Scouts has allowed me to touch the lives of people in my neighborhood and city, through service and most importantly younger girls. My experiences have installed key principles that I will carry with me forever and life lessons such as serving, social, leadership, problem-solving and cooperation skills.
There is no greater gift than to impact a life and Girl Scouts has shown me the true meaning of generosity and compassion for others. Girl Scouts alone is founded on the principle of leadership, service, and commitment and strives to teach younger girls to be good citizens, honest, fair, friendly, helpful, considerate, caring, and strong. My Girl Scout troop has fed the homeless, made gifts for seniors in senior citizen homes, planted tries, collected items for less fortunate, raised money to send troops in Iraq Girl Scout cookies, made little gifts for the church congregation, assisted in important ceremonies and gatherings, served food to the masses, and much more. Our community service projects have impacted the lives of soldiers, homeless individuals, sick children in hospital, the elderly, and other younger girls around the city. I have learned so many interesting things and essential skills that can help me at school, church, or even in public settings. My Girl Scout Troop truly personified the principles of generosity and compassion and still does today. Although upon graduating high school I will no longer be a Girl Scouts, I commit to still embody this desire to impact a life through service in college. I will use my skills learned at Girl Scouts to encourage others to build up the community and make it a safer place for the children.
As a Senior Girl Scout and oldest member, I am the Big Sister of the troop. As a Girl Scout for ten years, I have seen girls drop out of the e program, yet I am compelled and committed to be of it because of what it has done for me. Girl Scouts has shaped my life not only by increasing my desire to help my community through service projects, but also personally. As a only child, my mother enrolled me into Girl Scouts to meet other girls my age and hopefully make me less timid. It didn’t take me long to make friends, but I still found myself holding back because of the insecurities manifested within. I was shorter and chunkier than all the other girls, and on top of that I had rashes, scabs, and scaly skin that covered my skin, due to my eczema. This personal enigma resulted in my low self-esteem, which ultimately shaped my persona around the other girls. I thought I was the only one with insecurities, but I was so wrong. My Girl Scout troop addressed social problems amongst girls, with self-esteem being the first topic, and amazingly all the girls could point out things that they didn’t like about themselves. I was startled to hear that my personal fear was something that the majority of the girls felt, insecure. Girls Scouts taught me a valuable lesson: you must love yourself and being different is okay. This was valuable lesson and life changing because I learned to love myself and all my imperfections, because that is what makes me uniquely Ashley.
As you can see Girl Scouts has not only affected my workmanship, but also me as a young lady. Young Girls need guidance, caring woman, and encouragement, which are all things I found in my Girl Scout troop and I am forever grateful and a better person because of it. Girl Scouts is all about; encouraging, motivating, and leading young girls in a positive manner towards a future of success. I am so passionate about this that I decided to devote my life to encouraging other adolescents/teenagers, through counseling. I want to rebuild my community by helping the children that inhabit it and who experience traumatizing stuff everyday. I want to encourage others to never give up, and overcome insecurities, problems, and personal situations. By becoming a children psychologist, I can help adolescents with the obstacles they face, with wisdom, encouragement, and listening ear. In college, I will begin my service in elementary school and Girl Scout troops in the neighborhood, with future goals to have self-esteem workshops and talks for young girls. I want to help young girls make the right decisions, in a world that is filled with bad things, and have an impact in their lives. I want to be to other girls, what Girl Scouts was for me. I want to help my community through the children.
I have always had a soft spot for defenseless animals since I was a young child. Throughout my childhood, I always had a dog as a constant companion. I was oblivious to the mistreatment of animals until my whole life changed when I decided to volunteer for Multiple Breed Rescue. There, I met Fran; a shy little dog that came into the shelter from a puppy mill. She had been severely abused by her owners. Her skin was badly covered with rashes and opened sores from fleas, because of this her fur would not grow back for months. Her pain was so great that she would cry and howl when you would pick her up. It was obvious that she had been physically abused and did not have much human contact. She would flinch when you would go near her and try to hide when someone new would approach her. All she wanted was someone to love her.
The rescue owner took her to the vet on numerous occasions to help with the many skin issues that poor Fran was dealing with. They tried many different medications until they found one strong enough to heal her raw skin. Over time Fran’s skin improved and the constant care physical and emotional we gave her, started to work. Fran became more outgoing with everyone. You can tell Fran was feeling better because she was running around jubilantly and began interacting with the people at the shelter. We even caught her playing with toys that she never had any interest in playing with. At this point it became clear that the efforts we had put into helping this animal were greatly affective and would allow her to be considered for adoption. Once Fran was completely healed she went on her way to her new loving home. Her new family sends in pictures and updates periodically throughout the year. This experienced opened my eyes and passion to the vulnerability of these speechless animals. This occurrence even though was a terrible experience for Fran, has had a positive impact on me.
Another experience that has fueled my passion for helping vulnerable animals happened at one of the adoption events that I volunteered at. I fell in love with Darby, one of the dogs there. He was so scared, he was the only dog that was quiet and stood very still in the back of the cage. People kept passing Darby by and not noticing him because he was not as active as the other dogs. I immediately felt compassion towards him. Darby looked like he did not have much human contact and was afraid of people. When my mother came to pick me up I showed her Darby and she fell instantly in love. I already had a dog at home but always wanted another one. My father was never too keen about getting another dog. Since my grandmother was looking for a dog to keep her company, we decided to foster Darby to see if he would work out with her. When we got home my dad was surprised and said we can show our grandmother, but we were not allowed to keep him. We fostered Darby a few weeks until we were able to show him to my grandmother. Like the rest of us, she fell in love with him too but also saw that our family started to become attached to him. She suggested that we adopt Darby. My father was very hesitant at first but eventually agreed. At first Darby would just sit there and not do anything because he was afraid. It appeared that he had been abused because when you tried to pet him, he would flinch and run away. After working with him for some time, he began to warm up to us. Darby now plays joyfully around my house. Darby and our other dog, Sparky that we have had for twelve years have become best friends. He has become a part of our family. We are very happy we decided to adopt him. Even my father has grown a strong attachment to our family’s newest addition.
With these life changing experiences, I have actively been involved in participating with varies activities to help the rescue that I volunteer at and get the word out about adopting from rescue animal shelters. This summer I participated in a parade to get the word out about puppy mills. While walking a rescue dog that was up for adoption in the parade, I handed out flyers that explained what puppy mills were. I also got involved in protesting puppy mills at a local pet store that was known for buying from puppy mills. I also have a magnet on my car that says “Rescue” with paw prints on it so I can get the word out about rescuing even while driving. With all theses activities we have had many people adopting from the rescue instead of their original plan of adopting from a pet store that had over-priced puppy mill dogs. I have also help educate people who have no idea what puppy mills are and provide them with information on how they too can become a voice for these animals.
With this new awakening I decided to be Co-President of the Animal Outreach Club at my school. This club is a great opportunity to be in a group of other students with the same interest in helping animals in need. My role in this club as Co-President is to help organize meetings and find speakers to speak to the students about their involvement with helping animals. The speakers teach the students about how they can help get involved with animals and their rights. We also have fundraisers every year to raise money for the guest speakers that come speak to the group. This year is the tenth anniversary of the club and because of this, local newspapers have written articles on the club. I have been quoted in several local newspapers this year about my involvement with this club and about what we do in the club for the community.
This experience greatly changed me in many positive ways. With volunteering at the rescue and being involved with the Animal Outreach Club, I found a new passion in my life. I got more involved in my community to help the animals and I educated people about puppy mills. Furthermore, by educating the public and spreading the word about these puppy mills, I also gained many self rewards that are associated with helping out these vulnerable animals. All these experiences have been very positive and educational at the same time. It also allowed me to work in a field that I have always had an interest in, while almost confirming my career choice as a veterinarian. This has also inspired me to either foster for other rescues or eventually have my own dog rescue. This involvement with the rescue helps me be the voice the animals’ need, while being the support and temporary caregiver they need to reach a healthier state of life. It is very rewarding seeing these animals entering the rescues in such a vulnerable state and after being provided with the necessary care, they are able to fulfill their new owners with smiles and happiness. Whether I end up working with animals as a career or simply volunteering at shelters and rescues, I am sure I will always remain active in my community with providing the care needed by these animals while continuing to educate the community about these important issues.
The Town of Tonawanda Youth Engaged in Service program has been a part of my life since seventh grade. Members receive a monthly newsletter and then sign up for the events at which that they wish to help. I generally sign up for the events with children, including town and school carnivals, dances, ice cream socials, and local concert series, but other events are offered with the elderly and disabled that I take part in as well. These experiences affect me in countless ways, and I have three instances that stand out in my mind as prime examples of this.
During the summer I was a Junior Playground Supervisor for several years, meaning I volunteered with a paid supervisor to help children with crafts and games in a craft house, and planned fun summer activities for the children. A lot of these children were poor and visited without their parents, who do not want them around during the day. When we have pizza and ask each kid for fifty cents or a dollar, they cannot always afford it, and that saddened me.
There is one family of four boys who have come to the playground for the past couple of years. When the littlest boy was two, he was too young to be at the park unsupervised. His mom would never come over with him and one of the older boys always had to walk him back home. It was really sad because he just took an older brother’s hand and walked home with his head down, not understanding why he had to be home with the mother who told them to leave. I brought my MP3 player to volunteer one day and they were so amazed by it and wanted to listen, so I let them. They never had money for crafts, but the games were free, so we played countless games of Sorry and UNO everyday. It got repetitive, but never boring, because these boys always had stories to tell. They were such little characters and deserved more attention in their lives. I was happy that my volunteering allowed me to see how other people lived. Only a short distance away from my house, this family was living a completely different life. It made me really appreciate what I have after seeing through their eyes during those summers.
Another place that I frequently visited was the Hearts for the Homeless after school program. Youth Engaged in Service members met here every other week to make crafts and read stories with the underprivileged children, who were not necessarily homeless, but were poor. One year, the theme was Around the World. This meant each visit brought a cultural story, craft, and game. Around Christmas, we made ornaments and played the German pickle game, where a pickle is hidden (usually in the tree) and the first person who finds it wins a prize. The children were so excited to play, even the older ones who came just to help their younger siblings. The game was supposed to be competitive, but the children were helpful in helping each other reach different places, and it showed their true sense of family.
Hearts for the Homeless is a Christian organization that incorporates religion in the program, evident at snack time and before going home, when a child would lead group prayer. It always touched me that they were so rooted to their religion and came up with genuine prayers each time.
After consistently returning to this event, I formed bonds with the children, including a seven-year-old, Ryan. He was the only child there on one particular day as neither of us were aware that the program was cancelled due to snow. After I found this out, I called my dad to have him return and get me, but it was going to take a few minutes. Meanwhile, Ryan ran up to me and hugged me. He had a broken truck in his hand. So I helped him by fixing the toy while he continued to hug me and tell me how thankful he was to God for me. It only took a minute to fix the truck. Anyone could have done it, but I was the one there who offered assistance.
I only saw Ryan twice a month, and I was a part of his life. This moment has stayed with me because I was one-on-one with someone who though younger, had a stronger grasp on the importance of being grateful. I remember using that day as a model for me. I realized the importance of expressing more concern, knowing what powers I had to reach people, and followed the children’s example of sincere prayer. Volunteering served a double purpose for me, including strengthening my faith as well as helping others, and incorporating this into my life has helped in my high school years.
Another event that my town holds is CommUNITY Care Day, where people around the neighborhood request volunteers for a day. Groups do not know their assignments until they arrive that morning. I have baked cookies for the soup kitchen, painted a fence, helped a man go grocery shopping, and picked up trash. But the most touching day for me was the day my friends and I went sent to an elderly woman’s house to weed her garden.
She may have been too old to be on her knees herself cutting back her plants, but she was still full of spunk and directed us in the proper way to angle the trimmers and differentiate weeds from plants. It was a hard day of work, but after a few hours, her yard looked completely different. She must have loved gardening. It was evident with the artistic layout of plants and decorations. She had a back patio with window walls where she must like to sit and look out at her plants. This patio is where we sat down after we finished. This woman was so cute and had baked zucchini and pumpkin breads for us. You could tell she was so excited to have visitors enjoying her food. It was her way of saying thank you.
I learned that it is not what you do that makes you feel so great after serving others, but rather who you touch. You can see the changes you make in your surroundings, but you can feel the changes you make for a person. This feeling is very rewarding. The Youth Engaged in Service program gave me the opportunities to get involved in my community. Now that I am heading off to college, I will have to move on and find my own ways to get involved. I volunteer in my local hospital’s pharmacy for instance, but I also know that I can find chances in college, and plan on making those chances count.
I have learned the spirit of community service and want to continue with it throughout my life, and I will do so. Then one day when I am too old to weed my garden, hopefully some teenagers will have the same values that I do and will come help me. I will bake them bread, and tell them these stories, showing my appreciation while also passing on the spirit of volunteering.
Prompt 3:
The adrenaline rush when on a roller coaster forces an experience that brings forth many ups and downs. Much like this roller coaster, life also brings forth many ups and downs. Many people wish to get off of the roller coaster when it is spiraling down, however it is the best time to make a goofy face for the hidden camera. Many people also wish to give up when they are faced with adversity; however it is the best time to grow as a person.
The single person who has influenced me the most is my dad. My dad held my hand when I took my first steps, and he never let go. He was the only one who supported me and made sure I did not fall throughout my life. November 29th, 2006 was the first time I fell. It was the day my dad passed away in a car accident while driving me to school, and also the day I had to let go of his hand. Letting go of his hand forced me to grow up faster than I had expected. Months followed, and I felt as though I had been put in a roller coaster that was only going downhill, yet the memories of my dad allowed me to rise to the top again.
This experience made me realize that, where there is bad, good is lurking around the corner. I became aware of this through the help that the community gave our family during this difficult time in our lives. This generosity inspired me to give back to the community. It also made me realize how lucky my family was to be blessed to live in a great community, and how other families are not as fortunate. I am able to call myself successful today, because of the people that I have in my life and the various activities that I have joined in high school. My extra curriculars, such as the International Baccalaureate program and Student Leadership have taught me the importance of integrity, honesty, and willingness to give back to the community. Both of these activities praise the importance of being a global leader, and what it means. The education and lessons that I have learned in school have taught me to not only be successful, but to apply my success to a good cause. These experiences throughout my high school career have implemented positive characteristics in me that will never leave.
I hope to pursue a degree in law and help families that are in need of financial help. Helping the community is not only beneficial to others; it is also beneficial to the individual who is trying to help. I know that personally, helping the community helps me achieve a community in which I can belong in, as well as the opportunity to meet more people, and gain experiences that shape me into a greater person. “As one person I cannot change the world, but I can change the world of one person”, and I will. My dad, my school, and my supportive community have changed my world, and as my token of gratitude towards them I want to change the world of others. I know that I will always be on a roller coaster, but my number one priority will be to carry out the dedication and motivation to indulge myself in the community as well as contribute positively to the community.
Well-rounded students which can be found through out any high school, though well-rounded with leadership potential are rare to find. I can guarantee and prove, if given a chance that as an anticipated candidate I do and will continue to embody all of the characteristics that my community has embedded in me.
As we drove past the seaboard, Galveston didn’t look so bad. Busy restaurants and strip malls scattered our field of vision. We pressed our faces against the windows of the van almost hoping for a destructive sight. It wasn’t too long before our wishes were answered in a sobering way. As we drove further, past the beaches and the tourist sites, we began to see the toll that the island took from Hurricane Ike. Blue tarp covered an uncomfortable number of homes. Whole homes were missing in places, leaving huge gaps between houses. But I’ll never be able to forget the sight of one small home which, more than being battered by the storm, had lost its entire back wall to the hurricane’s unabated appetite. Everyone who drove by could see into the bedroom of the house, where a frenzied mess of debris and an old dresser looked out despairingly. The sight of the poor house seemed to personify the abandonment experienced by the island after the storm. It was then that I began to peer into the reality of Galveston’s cleanup and see, through the sacrifices of so many people involved, just what it means to be a servant.
My church youth group had joined up with a Galveston mission group called Good News Galveston. For one week we would split into groups and scatter across the island, working on various damaged sites and getting to know the people for whom we were working. At night we would congregate to share testimonies, discuss work strategies, and get some rest. I was in a group with about ten other high school kids and three adults. When the project information was handed out, my group found itself working for Mr. Dan, a 60 year old man with a heart condition who was expected to live only six more months. Apparently, the top half of his house had been destroyed because of the storm surge after the hurricane. I subconsciously prepared myself for strenuous work and little recognition. As we drove up to the house, it looked like any other project—blue tarp and all. But when we walked inside, it was a different story from start to finish.
We were greeted enthusiastically by a young woman (who I later learned was Mr. Dan’s daughter Elizabeth) and shown around the project area—two rooms that needed sheet rocking, flooring, ceiling work and electrical wiring. Downstairs, piles of boxes and clothes covered the living room floor, waiting for the upstairs rooms to be completed so they could go back in place. The garage still retained traces of the flooding, with water damage covering the floor and the lower parts of old furniture and boxes. The backyard was a mess of weeds and more debris. But as we started to work, it seemed different than anything I could have expected. The work was difficult—maybe more so than I had thought. Weeding the garden was a feat within itself, working with rusty shovels, moving heavy rotting wood and staying alert for snakes. Washing down the garage floor without adding to the flood damage was tricky. Even inside the house, measuring for drywall and wiring the rooms had us working up a considerable sweat. But what was surprising was that Mr. Dan stood alongside us the whole time while we worked, and got on his knees and helped wherever he could. He was an experienced engineer and craftsman—he knew how to fix up the room better than any of us could. However, instead of getting frustrated at our ignorance or at his inability to do the job himself, Mr. Dan started to teach us. He scared my friend with the table saw but helped her get over her fear and use it well. He elected me to use the nail gun every time it was needed, even though—or maybe because—I was so intimidated by it. He even got us to work in the kitchen and make everyone’s lunch, teaching us how to prepare the most amazing enchiladas and brisket.
We worked for four days from about 8 to 5. Apart from the upstairs rooms, we worked on the backyard, the garage and cleaned out the living room as well. But as long and as hard as we worked on his house, we never once felt like we were doing any favors. Mr. Dan taught us how to work, how to cook, and how to have fun. He also shared something more important—his stories. A retired sniper from the Vietnam War, a father of two sets of twins, a terminal heart patient, Mr. Dan never ceased to surprise us with his wisdom. We learned lessons in love and in patience. We also heard countless amusing stories. Mr. Dan was an excellent storyteller, and he was bursting with tales to tell and lessons to teach. He had stories about his faith, his family, and his wife. More than anything, he was full of joy even in the midst of his suffering and disabilities. In the short time that we were there, he focused on each one of us personally, asking us about ourselves, wanting to understand where we were in life, and encouraging us. When we left on the last day, he even asked if he could put us on his prayer list.
As we drove back home, I stared lazily out the window and thought about the work we had done. I didn’t feel the tiredness and disappointment I had expected to feel. Instead, I felt a gnawing feeling of humility. Although we had all worked hard, it didn’t seem like we were heroes of any kind. My youth group went to Galveston expecting to make a huge difference and leave a lasting impact on the island. But now it was clear that we hadn’t made the deepest impact on the trip. We weren’t the servants; Mr. Dan was. And I think it was this feeling that taught us what being a servant really is.
My mom and I began volunteering with Meals-on-Wheels in 2008, during Christmas season. Instead of having a lazy Christmas, we got up early and delivered meals. Our first route took us to the Columbus Colony Elderly Care center. The center is specifically for those elderly citizens who are hard-of-hearing or deaf. When my mom and I arrived, we struggled finding the correct rooms because of the confusing layout of the area. We tried asking a resident for help, but she was deaf and couldn’t help us. We then went to an employee, who could read lips and wrote out for us directions. It was an eye-opening experience for me, not being able to communicate at all with someone because of a language barrier. As we would be continuing our route at CCEC the following month, my mom and I looked into taking sign language classes. I found classes offered by a local job placement organization, and taking ASL classes was one of the best things I have ever done.
I took sign language classes every week for a total of 16 weeks, and during those weeks, I didn’t just learn a new language, I learned about a completely new subculture that was all around me. I never realized how different deaf culture was from my own. We may live in the same country, but deaf culture and hearing culture are worlds apart. Those who are deaf have a whole different set of idioms and phrases than English speakers do. There is also a huge distinction between those who were born deaf and those who lost their hearing due to an illness or an accident. Another large piece of deaf culture is something called a cochlear implant. These implants allow some deaf people—mainly those who were hearing at some point in their life—to regain some of their hearing. These devices are very controversial in the deaf community because it is seen as being ashamed of who you are, rather than trying to adapt to the world around you.
I learned so much through ASL classes that a lot of what I saw at Columbus Colony was beginning to make more sense to me. I couldn’t understand why the deaf people I tried (and sometimes failed) to communicate with would give me funny looks, as if to say “what are you doing trying to sign” or “this girl has no idea what she is doing”. It was a huge learning experience for me, because even though I was trying to communicate with them in the language they were most comfortable with, it wasn’t taken in a good light. My ASL teacher explained to me that a lot of deaf or hard of hearing people, especially the elderly, are very leery of hearing people who try to, as she put it, “enter their world”. They are much like any other country—distrusting of “foreigners” who try to join their way of life.
In the same way my Meals-on-Wheels volunteering taught me about a new culture and got me interested in a new language, my volunteering with Pilot Dogs was a life changing experience. Training a puppy for a year is incredibly hard work—you have to house break them, teach them basic commands, and have a lot of patience. And giving them back after a year, so they can be trained to be seeing-eye dogs, is even harder. Though it broke my heart to give my first Pilot Puppy back, it was all worth it when I got to see her graduate and walk down the street with her new owner, doing something absolutely amazing. That moment changed me, and inspired my mom and I to continue raising Pilot Dogs—throughout my high school career, we have raised four, all but one of whom have graduated and been placed with blind owners from all over the United States.
Raising Pilot Puppies taught me a lot about sacrifice; I sacrificed my time, and eventually, my love for the dogs, in order to help someone else live a better life. Pilot Dogs has taught me to be less selfish, because even though I wanted to keep the puppies I had become so attached to, they had a bigger purpose. They would allow someone to be independent, to live on their own for possibly the first time in their life, to be able to walk across the street or go to the grocery store without anyone’s help. The dogs I raised were doing something incredible, and I was a part of it in a way most people never get to be. I played a direct part in changing someone’s life forever, and even though it was difficult, it changed my life for the better as well.
But while Pilot Dogs and Meals-on-Wheels both provided me with a life changing experience, it was my volunteer work with Girl Scouts that was the most influential on my life. While being an assistant leader for a troop of eight elementary-aged girls, I learned a lot about myself and what I loved. Being involved in Girl Scouts, and helping those little girls for two years, helped me to realize that not only did I love children, I was becoming curious as to the developmental aspect of childhood. It was then that I realized that I would love to major in psychology in college—I want to become a childhood or school psychologist, so I can combine my love of children with my love of psychology. Being a volunteer with the Girl Scouts changed my life because it helped me to finally answer the question of what I wanted to do with the rest of my life.
My volunteer experiences have all been positive ones that have taught me something about myself or the world around me. Volunteering has been the most beneficial use of my time in high school, because it has allowed me to broaden my interests and gain experiences that not everyone can say they have. Without my extensive volunteer history, I would without a doubt be a completely different person.
East Villagers Service Scholar Essay Contest: Prompt 2
Throughout my life, my family went through several financial crises, at times so desperately in need that my parents, brother, and I were forced to secretly live in a small room at the back of our church. However, one of the best things I also got out of this difficult financial situation was that I learned to the importance of service to the community. My father used to spend time after church service listening to and counseling people, and if they stayed late, my mother would cook dinner for them. Despite our own meager resources, my parents taught me to always give, and in doing so, I was able to form my aspirations. When my mother could not afford to hire teachers for the daycare, I had to work everyday after school to help with the children’s homework and classwork. Sometimes I came from school exhausted and I truly did not have the heart to help. However, I learned to be patient with myself and with others. As I spent weeks, months, and years with these children, I grew a tender spot for kids, especially the handicapped kids at the daycare. I was in charge of the handicapped class and I spent most of my time working with kids who were behind in school, had problems with speech, or had mental disabilities.
At the daycare I took special care of a girl named Angela who suffered listening and speech disabilities. Because she could not listen and speak well, she had great difficulty making conversations with other children. She had much insecurity about herself and developed an extreme shyness toward strangers. At the daycare I spent many hours helping Angela with her homework and taught her grammar and writing lessons. As weeks and months passed, I saw progress in her school grades and I patiently encouraged Angela to continue to not give up. I also helped Angela to overcome her shyness by gradually introducing her to her classmates during snack times. Soon she had adjusted well in our daycare with many friends inside and outside school. As years passed and we grew a deeper friendship, Angela revealed to me her dream of becoming a pianist. She told that she had trouble keeping track of beats and rhythm but that piano was a hobby she enjoyed very much. I continuously encouraged Angela to practice and to follow her dream, and now I am proud to say that she is attending the Los Angeles High School of Arts, with an intensive focus on music. Thinking back, I marvel at how much she has grown and matured, to the point where she has a dream in her life she is striving for. By spending time with Angela, helping her overcome obstacles, and learning from her improvements, I realized that despite odds, everyone has the potential to stand up and do something great with what they have. With only a little support, there are so many things we can do and accomplish in our lives. I hope that through college I can continue to serve in the community, whether in local hospitals or church organizations, and make a greater impact in the lives of others, just as I have had in Angela’s life.
Just like Angela, there were many other children at the daycare who had speech and mental disabilities. It saddened me that many of these kids could not make friends and were especially lonely during playtime since they couldn’t speak very well. As a result I spent many hours simply playing with the children and tried to make them feel included. After several years of working with the children at my mom’s daycare, I decided that I wanted to become a pediatrician. I had found a genuine passion to help, heal, and nurture kids.
Last year, our school had an assembly called “I accept Rachel’s Challenge” about a school shooting, in which thirteen students were killed. One of the students was a girl named Rachel Scott and the speaker, who was Rachel’s own younger brother, told us about Rachel and how she was an especially kind-hearted person in school who spent time with lonely, handicapped, and forgotten students. His last message for us was to accept Rachel’s challenge and carry her will of going out of our way to show compassion. In the days following the assembly, I started to see my school and the students differently. Previously, I was blind to the kids who sat alone at lunch or the shy student who was always left out of group projects. But Rachel’s challenge opened my eyes to the “forgotten” people at school, and I started to go out of my way to think of them. I started to talk with the shy students in my classes, asked about their interests, getting to know them as the unique individuals they were. I started to leave class a few minutes later after everyone left so that I could help pack up the belongings of a student in a wheelchair and open the door for him. These weren’t big grand things I did – just little things I did to show compassion. The biggest thing I learned from all of this was that everything happens in little steps and I am so glad that I took that challenge to take a step forward because after that small step, I developed greater confidence and big things started happening.
For instance, before accepting Rachel’s challenge I would shy away from leadership opportunities, but when the Pre-Medical Society club needed officers, I took a huge step out of my comfort zone and signed up to become the Freshman Rep. Although this may not seem like a huge risk, for me this was the first time I willingly volunteered to be a leader, a representative, someone who had to speak up. Through this club, I raised donations for research on leukemia and participated in walk-a-thons to support AIDS victims. I also began to reach out to the community by volunteering at local hospitals, clinics, and convalescent homes. The more I became involved in the community, the more I had chances to practice leadership. What was more amazing was that as I started to reach out to others, people around me also began to take initiative. My two closest friends joined my club and we spent many hours and days planning community events for the club. Although I started out as a timid Freshman Rep, I’ve risen to become the club President. By accepting Rachel’s challenge, I learned to break outside my own shell and reach out to others in school and in the community.
I hope to continue to reach out to the community in college. I plan to find a local church or children center where I can offer my time and services as a Sunday school teacher or a teacher’s assistant. Throughout my years in high school, I had found a passion for working with children and I hope to pursue this passion throughout college as well. In addition, I hope to join clubs on campus that raise donations for free medical clinics or mission trips. In fact, this summer I am planning to join a mission group to Ecuador where we will be building homes and offering much needed supplies to the local people. I am hoping to collect money and donations in a savings account in order to join such mission teams every summer. Throughout college, I hope to continue to offer my services and have a great impact on people not only in the local community but in nations beyond.
For the past couple of years, I have been a part of a youth group at “KRCC”: Korean American Resource and Cultural Center, located in Chicago, IL. Our youth group is called “FYSH”: Fighting Youth Shouting Out For Humanity. This year, our campaign is called the “DREAM Act”: Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act.
The DREAM Act gives aid to undocumented international students who cannot afford education. We raise money to create “DREAM” scholarships for these students, who immigrate to the United States and desire to go to college, but are unable to pay for their education and cannot apply for any financial aid. Without any proper documentation or even social security, these people do not qualify for any government financial aid. These people are students who wish to go to school, but cannot. Here in America, education is a right, not a privilege, and as always, some of us take our rights for granted.
I chose to join “FYSH” because I believe in the “DREAM Act”. I believe in the DREAM Act because I believe in education. I notice that there are too many unsolved issues in our world. Some people wait for the federal government to fix all the worldly issues such as poverty, war, crime. However, it is my honest opinion that any solution to these issues begin with each and every one of us. We need to work individually and together to reach the core of these issues to diminish them for good. I believe that the core of these issues ignorance. With lack of education, society is not properly informed and thus, we live our lives ignorantly, not thoroughly understanding what happens around us. Therefore, I believe that the cure to ignorance is education.
At our “FYSH” meetings, each youth member takes turns to facilitate meetings. We learn how to keep order to accomplish an agenda every week. We organize community fundraising events to raise money for the “DREAM” scholarships. Our grand annual event is the “DREAM-A-THON”. It is a marathon in which we reach out to other youth groups and our community to come and help us raise money and raise awareness. We inform them of this crucial issue of undocumented students that are unable to go to school and we inform them of our solution for it. We gain support of more people each year. People come and sponsor and donate to the cause and run the marathon. It is a wonderful event and each youth member from “FYSH” is responsible for carrying out all different kinds of aspects for it.
Personally, for me, being a part of making the event a success to support the cause and reach the bigger picture is a great feeling of accomplishment. Watching the community come together to support this cause is so wonderfully overwhelming. I have stayed with this organization because I have seen some students’ dreams come true because of it. I believe that it is very effective. It has taught me how to be a leader. The whole idea of it all completely inspires me because I believe in the “DREAM Act” and “FYSH” and education. It all makes an extraordinary impact on me because it is my lifelong dream to become a teacher.
Every day of my life is about dedication to making my hopes and dreams a reality one day. In the end, all I ever truly desire is the gratifying feeling that I make a difference, if even in just one person’s life. That feeling would connote to me that my time and effort in my life was worthwhile and my purpose is served.
Being at school and my youth center are my absolute two favorite places to be. It’s where I have met the most astonishing people you could rarely meet in life who have made very great impacts on me. It’s where I have learned that when I want something, I can’t go wrong when there’s love and inspiration, as Ella Fitzgerald once said. It’s where I have recognized who I am and discovered what I hope to accomplish in this life; where I realized that I want to be a teacher with all my heart. I wouldn’t rather be anyplace else.
Here, I have built many unique friendships meant to last a lifetime. My friends and I have learned that when times are at its worst and we lose our strength and courage to walk another step, we act as each other’s crutches and walk a mile together because we know it’ll be worthwhile. But no matter how difficult or ridiculous these moments can be, we all always learn a little bit of something about life and appreciating our wonderful blessings, which we hold onto that keep us going every day.
One of the greatest aspects of my school and youth center is the magnificent teachers, counselors, and coaches that encourage and guide us as much as they can, and more than they would be expected to. Their concern and attempt to help proves that they have confidence in us to become better people of the world. Their time and effort to succeed at their jobs are what has inspired me for so long to one day come back to this community as a teacher myself. These people have devoted a part of their lives spread knowledge and wisdom to others. They have taught me the meaning and rewarding results of integrity and perseverance. They have shown me such great insight and inspiration I used to think didn’t exist. I truly believe that being a teacher is an honorable thing to be. Their kindness is overwhelming. I want to feel that same gratitude in making a difference in another’s life. I want to inspire the same way I have been inspired.
I love this community more than anything and I want to become a teacher with all my heart. My friends, teachers, counselors, and family mean everything to me and I know that they play great roles in keeping me going and helping me reach my ambitions. I devote every day of my life to accomplishing small goals to reach the bigger picture; to live my moment. My life is my passion. As Catherine Graham once said, “To love what you do, and feel that it matters, how could anything be more fun?”
East Villagers Service Scholar Essay (Prompt 1):
“How Community Service Has Changed My Life”
Community service is the best way to transform your town, yourself and the people who live within it. During the past four years of high school, I’ve participated in many different community service activities and mission trips. However, even though I’ve spent hours on various service projects, a summer mission trip I went on called the Hartford Project forever changed who I am.
On this mission trip, the community of Hartford was positively affected and changed. Our high school group stayed in the North End of Hartford, where there is an extremely high crime rate, a large amount of drug dealing and hostility between neighbors. Throughout this week, approximately one hundred teenagers and I all helped to make a difference in the community. During our time in Hartford, we offered free carwashes to people in the community, distributed free clothing and we hosted a block party for everyone who lived on Barbour Street, which used to be considered one of the worst places to live. In Hartford, we cleaned the trash off the streets, volunteered at shelters and did various other service projects. Even though we offered a lot of free things and services to the people, the greatest thing that we did was creating new relationships with members of the community.
Going into this mission trip, I had no idea how much it would affect me. I had always believed that helping people and serving others was important, but it had never occurred to me how much of an affect it can have on others. Previously, I had been on a mission trip to West Virginia, but when I went there it seemed to be an entirely different world. When I went on the Hartford project, I realized how many people were living in poverty and struggling with many different problems within twenty minutes of my house. I came to the realization that community service is just as important as rebuilding houses around the country, trying to create world peace and/or fighting poverty and world hunger. Community service benefits people who are in need that live so close to you. Now, I see community service as one of the most important things that one can and should do regularly.
While I was on this same trip, I noticed how much of a positive affect we had on the people in the North end. Throughout my week in Hartford, I spoke with many people within the community that were living on Barbour Street. When we hosted the large block party on Barbour Street, we handed out clothing, fed over a thousand people, and provided activities that you would find at a fairground like bounce houses and pony rides. Hundreds of people who lived in the area came out for this daylong event. Everyone who attended appeared to be very joyful and it was clear that the community had come together. One of the elderly men I met at this event said that, “This is the first time, in over eighty-six years that I’ve lived here on Barbour Street, that the neighborhood had come together as one.” He went on to say that he appreciated everything our group had done and that he couldn’t believe how this had changed the neighborhood in one day. Over ten kids asked me throughout the day, if we were going to be doing the event everyday, and talked about how it was the best day of their lives. A week later, our group discovered that that day had been the first day in years when Barbour Street had not experienced a crime or a serious accident.
Undoubtedly, it seemed that the community had been changed almost overnight. Though we all knew it hadn’t been completely transformed so quickly, we realized that our service did impact their lives and ours. The people of Hartford continued to trust and became more open with my group as the week went on. We continued to help out at homeless shelters and offer free carwashes. While a smaller group of teenagers and I worked at a homeless shelter one night, I witnessed the brokenness of many people. People who lived on the streets came in for a free meal and we fed them and started relationships with them. I met over twenty people who were struggling with addiction, or for one reason or another were unable to not put food on their own table. As I talked to them and served them food, I realized how these simple acts of service changed their lives. These residents were extremely thankful and blessed by what we did that one night. While I participated in offering free carwashes to the community, our service surprised residents. Even after all of the acts we did, they still were in shock at what we were doing. Of the two hundred cars we washed, the majority of the drivers tried to pay us or make a donation. I remember clarifying that it was completely free. This little act of assistance went a long way in the way people saw the community.
Throughout the entirety of the week that my group stayed in Hartford, I saw hundreds of peoples’ lives changed. In retrospect, this was one of the biggest moments in my life because I knew I was making an impact on society. I have learned how much impact one act of service can have on people and a community; more importantly, I know that I want to continue to change people’s lives. Since this experience, I’ve continued to help out my community and help other people who are in need. I see my free time and talents as vessels of aid to those who need it most. Aiding the society by giving up my time is something that I’ll continue to do in the future. If I can give just a few hours of my time a month, for the rest of my life, who knows how much of an effect I can have on my community or maybe even the world. As you can see, community service not only has had a positive impact on Barbour Street, but also on me.
One of the greatest experiences that happened to me happened while I was volunteering at Saint Luke’s Hospital Allentown Campus. I have been volunteering there since the summer after 8th grade and have accumulated over 375 hours and a couple of awards for my service including: a Healthcare Hero nomination (out of all the St. Luke’s in the area not just Allentown Campus), being a representative of all of the junior volunteers at the Breakfast for Champions hosted by the Volunteers of the Lehigh Valley, and receiving a Bravo! Award for my service during a code (when someone’s heart stops). However, the event really influenced me and changed my life had nothing to do with any of these. In fact I do not think anyone knows about this experience except myself and the patient that it occurred with.
It was a normal Thursday when I walked into the ER at 4:00 to start my volunteering shift. I said hi to every staff member in the Emergency Room and went and sat next to my favorite nurse. We talked for a while about sports, mainly college basketball, and it was the year that Florida would go on to win their second national title in a row. I really did not like Florida and neither did she so we were talking about how someone should upset them and take away their second title ambitions. Periodically we would be interrupted so I could help clean rooms and bring things to patients, after all that was my job. However one time a nurse came up and asked if I would like to go around and talk to the patients. I saw that it was 5:00 and figured that I would be done in time to go get dinner and come back and talk to my favorite nurse again before 7:00 when I had to go home, but I was wrong. I went around to each patient’s room asking them if they were all right and if there was anything that I could do for them. Most of them replied that they were fine and that they did not need anything. One patient asked me to come in and play games with her. I thought nothing of it and went and started to play games with her. We played hangman and other games to pass the time away until eventually she started to cry. I had no idea why she started to cry, she had seemed fine until that point. So I asked her what was wrong. She said that I looked like and reminded her of her son and that made her happy because she had not seen her son in a while because her and her husband had divorced and had moved away with her son. She said that the real reason she was in the hospital that day was that she was having suicidal thoughts and could not stand to be alone any longer. She said that for the past couple of months everything had been piling on top of her (especially her financial situation which was rapidly deteriorating) not giving her a chance to breathe and that I had been a breath of fresh air. I could not believe her story. She seemed like one of the sweetest people on the planet and her situation sounded awful. I really did not feel like I had done that much to help her, I could not get her son back, I could not fix her marriage and I certainly could not help her with her financial burdens. But this small gesture, just playing games with her had made her feel that much better. It really made me think about the significance of just being there for someone. It made me realize that this was one of the most important things you can do for someone, to be there for them. Because when you are there for them it helps to take some of the weight off of their shoulders, giving them a brief moment of reprieve. It also made every hour of volunteerism that I had performed worth it. I did not start volunteering in order to make a difference in someone’s life. I started because I wanted to see what the medical field was like and what it had to offer as I really want to become a physician when I grow older. To this effect every time I went in to volunteer was effective, as I learned about all the different aspects of medicine. When I volunteered in Same Day Surgery (or the Outpatient Surgery Ward) I learned all about nursing and what that entailed. Although I did not want to go into the nursing field, it really showed me how important nurses are and what they contribute to the hospital. In the Emergency Room I learned about nurses again, but I also saw what being a doctor really entailed. It just confirmed exactly what I knew in the first place, that I wanted to become a doctor and that I really wanted to help people. It was from this experience however, that I really felt that I could make a difference in peoples’ lives. I mean if one small gesture could make a person so happy, imagine what saving their life would do. It also made me want to participate in Doctors Without Borders. This organization helps people in impoverished areas that do not have adequate healthcare systems. I would like to make a difference in these peoples’ lives by giving them vitally needed healthcare and other supplies such as clean water. If people in this country need help, imagine what people in impoverished countries need.
I feel it should be noted and said that everyone should volunteer at some point in their lives and try and change someone’s life for the better. Whether it is for the food bank, a hospital or habitat for humanity, everyone should try and make a difference in this world, no matter how small.
When I think about what it is I really desire in my future, the only thing I can imagine is helping people. My future will start with a higher education. I am looking forward to joining my peers at Colorado State University majoring in liberal arts earning my psychology degree. I want to be able to help people with emotional and mental disorders. I believe that every person should have the freedom to live a life as normal as possible and not have to worry about the emotional stresses that can be caused by their mental disorders. So many people silently suffer from mental disorders such as aspergers/autism, schizophrenia, and many others. I look forward to earning my degree in psychology so that I can help people that suffer from their daily challenges. I could choose just about any school to get this degree, but I have chosen Colorado State University because I feel we can complement each other. C.S.U. has all my requirements in a college to enhance my field of study, but besides that it is also a school that you can become a part of their family. I presently am involved in five extracurricular activities: Student Council, FBLA, DECA, Publicity Director of PBL, and Link Crew. C.S.U. has so many activities for me to continue my social involvements. I have a very positive energetic attitude and C.S.U. shares that attribute.
I am very committed in making my community a better place to live. It all started a few years ago when I became a varsity cheerleader. I found I had the ability to inspire people. I also realized that when someone needed help they came to me. They trusted me with their private thoughts and I feel that I help them with their choices. I had a friend a long time ago when I was much younger who silently suffered from schizophrenia. He unfortunately did commit suicide. I made a promise to myself that day that I was going to do everything in my power to help people with their struggles. My own brother suffered from Aspergers and was mistakenly diagnosed with learning disabilities. Through trial and error he finally got the help he needed. Recently another good friend of mine who suffers from bipolar depression was in a serious car accident. He now suffers not only from that, but brain trauma. I was compelled to help him while he was in the hospital and I will continue until his full recovery. He will always have bipolar and I will always be his friend. I am helping people one by one to make my community a better place to live happily.
I have found that people who suffer in silence lose their ability to live a quality life with honesty and truthfulness. I have such a strong value system and I try each day to live my life with integrity and I feel everyone should have that freedom.
My plan is to work with children that have a variety of disorders. It is clear that children at one time or another face a mental or emotional challenge. I believe if children get the help they need and desire it would prevent them from tragedies such as alcoholism, depression, and suicide. I believe people and children alike find it difficult to ask for help. I have become a person that my peers feel they can confide in. I have helped many people put their minds at ease with confidentiality and understanding. I have realized that kids sometimes feel more at ease talking about their problems with someone other than family members. I look forward to being that person that people are comfortable to ask for help.
One of my greatest life experiences was working on a service project in Guatemala. I worked in the hospital where people were mentally and physically handicapped. I deeply felt their need for simple recognition. There was so much more I could do there, but they were just glad to see a friendly face. That opportunity gave me a chance to experience what it was like to work in a hospital. I could be one of those future doctors in a mental hospital. First I need to get my liberal arts degree so then I can move on to my doctorates degree to better understand mental disorders and how the brain truly works. I think this would be a great field for me because there will always be people who need help with their emotions.
It is my true calling to help people that suffer from mental disorders. They always say if you are passionate about something that is what you should be doing with your life. Becoming a psychiatrist would be a dream come true for me and helping people is what I want to do for the rest of my life.
Brocia Beachy
Prompt 1
My Volunteer Experience
I am blessed to have been introduced to serving my community at a younger age than most people. Our church has always been involved with our community. As soon as I was old enough to get involved with our youth group, I was also involved with community service. With that group, we would do activities such as visit, sing, and cook for the elderly, as well as rake the dead leaves in their yards in the fall. My favorite youth service activity we do is random acts of kindness. Everyone in the youth group gives five to ten dollars of their own money to the youth leader. Then, we drive through our community and pay for people’s gas, or their order at McDonald’s, or just go from door to door and give some families a small amount of money. This service activity touched me more than any other one we did in our community because we had the chance to meet with people to lived in our town. The tiny act of giving people money or helping them out in small ways lit up their faces, which in turn put a feeling of indescribable joy into my heart.
I am also a part of an organization that focuses on helping youth through grants and community service. This group is known as the Lagrange Independent Foundation for Endowment (L.I.F.E.). There are three other schools involved and only one student chosen per grade. We meet once a month and spend at least a half hour of that time serving our community. Through the L.I.F.E. organization, we have done things such as pick up trash, help clean a camp, and feed birds. We have also helped out in elementary schools in our community by reading to the young children, coloring, and playing games with them, as well as giving presents to them at Christmas time. I have now been in this organization for four years. It has helped me expand my community service experiences as well as made me appreciate my community much more.
The experience that has touched me the most throughout my opportunities with serving my community is one particular mission trip I went on with my youth group. We plan one big service mission every year, but this trip touched me the most. During the summer of 2008, we traveled to Atlanta, Georgia. Before we went I did not know much about this wonderful city. I did not realize how important the city is to our country, how many large businesses were located there, or, most importantly, how many homeless people resided there.
As we were driving into the city for the first time, I noticed the tall buildings and all the people. It reminded me of a much warmer version of Chicago. When we arrived at the edge of the city, our van pulled into a church where we were planning on staying for the week; this is when I started to notice the trash, the dirt, and the homeless people. My first thoughts about the homeless were just like any other uninformed American. I assumed they had made all the wrong choices and that was why they were in the situation they were. I did not realize until the end of the week how much I was at fault for thinking that. I judged them unfairly.
I was expecting the trip to be a week of fun with the youth group, growing closer to God, as well as each other. What I did not know was what exactly we would be doing while we were there. When we got to the church, we were all extremely excited to see where we would be staying, so we rushed up the four flights of stairs to the gym where we would be sleeping and eating. There were sixty kids and twenty adults on the trip; however, there were four showers, three toilets, and two sinks. Let’s just say we were not as excited at this point about the week ahead of us.
After all of the youth group was settled in, we decided to explore the city before it was time to eat. We walked for a couple blocks until we came to a park. The whole way I could not help noticing the people sitting on the edge of the sidewalk who wore dirty, ragged clothes. The way they just sat there, looking miserable, ripped right at my heart. This had been my first occurrence with homeless people. Later, back at the church, the people in charge explained to us that we would be experiencing something that we have most likely never experienced before. They warned us that we would be pan-handled and maybe even be harassed by the homeless people who were living in the streets of the city. This scared me at first. At this point I decided I was not going to make eye contact with any of them, let alone give them money. I did not realize how rude that was until two days later.
Every day of the trip we were assigned to do a different service activity at a different location. Our group was assigned projects such as picking up trash, pulling weeds in a garden, packing food into cartons for people who could not afford groceries, and serving soup at a homeless shelter. The whole week was an awesome learning experience, but the one thing that touched my heart the most was when we met a homeless family at lunch. The pastor of our church has a daughter who is married, with four kids, and is pregnant. She was living in the streets of Atlanta with her family at the time we were down there. We got hold of them and planned when and where to meet them for lunch. We had also set aside two hundred dollars to give them to help out. I am the president of the youth group, so I was the one who was given the privilege to present the family the money. I have never experienced anything like that before. The gratefulness that shown in her eyes and the look of joy that filled her face was absolutely priceless. It felt as though the joy from her face went straight into my heart. I know that all the money we gave them is gone now, but just knowing that we helped get them through that week warms my heart every time I think about it.
The evening before we planned to leave, our youth group formed a circle to talk. We discussed what kinds of things we witnessed that week, how the experiences had changed us, and what one word we could use that would sum up our experiences that week. I have already written about the heartbreaking things I observed that week. Those things touched a place in my heart that made me realize how much I judged people and did not know it. I found something out about myself that I did not want to know; but instead of ignoring it, I decided to take action and change it. Now whenever I see a homeless person on the side of a crowded, dirty street, I do not automatically avoid eye contact. I take the time to at least give that person a smile that lets him or her know that I care. The word I used to describe the trip was humbling. I remember walking through the cluttered streets of Atlanta and studying the people living in those very streets that I had come just to visit. I remember feeling guilty for complaining about cold winters when I have a warm house to sleep in every night, but they have nothing but scraps of old clothes to keep them warm. I remember feeling guilty for being disappointed when I saw the gym we would be staying in, with only three toilets. They have to find a place to relieve themselves in the streets.
I will never look at a homeless person the same. It will remind me each time that my life is not as bad as I make it sometimes. As we sat in a circle and discussed what had touched our hearts that week, I knew that this trip would have a lasting impression on my life. I knew I would never forget that moment of giving the needy family money and the feeling it gave me. I will never again take anything I have for granted.
Prompt 1
Nnedimma Ugochukwu
East Villagers Service Scholar Essay Contest 2010
April 21, 2010
My Volunteer Service Experience
It all began when we started community service on September 24th and a group of friends helped me find the location of the Boys and Girls Club. Our Coordinator, Ms. Marchlarina, talked to us about what the club does and her expectations from all of us. Many of us were freshman while the rest were sophomore and seniors. We began with an icebreaker to learn everyone’s names and a list of rules for us in general. We meet every Wednesday from 5-7p.m.
Two weeks later, guests come in to talk to us. His name was King Glay, but we call him Mr. G. He talked to us about helping him produce a film. He wanted young people to do this because it would give us an opportunity to see how a movie is made. At first, I thought that this was never going to happen. A lot of big things like this are discussed in great detail, but when it comes to doing it, no one wants to help. Mr. G said, “When I say we are going to make a movie, we are going to make it.” His tone of voice showed that he was serious, so I just went along and agreed with him.
He explained to us that the film would be about a boy’s who is seeking revenge about the death of his brother. He asked us if we would agree to be committed to this project and to work through the process. Of course, everyone agreed. Next, he told us that he would bring copies of the script the next week so that we could read and go over it.
Over the next month, we went over the script, looked at the script for “Crash,” watched small parts of the movie, and spoke with a host of professionals: psychologist, journalist and an assistant in movie production.
In November, we began our auditions for the film, to be titled “A Walk”. We had to post and make flyers for the event. Some of us posted the event to facebook on our walls. We passed out the flyers to anyone that would like to audition. I went to my school and made some copies and gave it to classmates to pass them out.
On November 26, only one person came to try out. Mr. G was disappointed. So we have to go out to the community to ask others to come in if they wanted to audition. Since no one came in, we rescheduled the auditions.
In the end, we were unable to find three of our main characters because not many people came in to audition. Mr. G wanted us to do that part but since we did not do it well, he took it from there and went back and called some of the actors he worked with in his previous films.
We brought all the actors together to meet each other and began rehearsals. Many of the adults did not take us seriously because we were young and running the rehearsals. They were taking advantage of us because we do not have a lot of experience, but we had an idea of what we wanted them to do. This caused a lot of stress for our director. She was very frustrated.
In December, I was busy with sports so I was unaware of any of the activities happening in relation to the film making and then of course we went on our winter break.
When we came back from winter break, Mr. G was highly upset with us because not many of us followed through on our commitment. He told us if we are committed, then we should stay, but if not, we should leave.
Since then, we began to plan our shooting and find locations to do the scenes. Mr. G took care of the equipment and since it’s a volunteer project, the money used to rent the equipment comes from the Boys & Girls club budget. We had to supply the props, outfits, and makeup by ourselves. Our assistant producers had to call for confirmination to use the locations and tell them the dates we would use the area. Mr. G and our director worked together to make a schedule including daylight time, the date, the weather, cast call times, and the list of people we would need on that day. We also added a list of things we would specifically need.
On January 16, the first day of shooting, everyone, especially Mr. G was so excited. We began coming in by 8:30 A.M. at the Boys and Girls Club. We ate breakfast and waited for the actors to come in. Our actors were running late. One was running so late that he forgot that he was supposed to come! So we started about two hours late because of him. When he came, we loaded the bus and were on our way to our first destination; the church.
When we all got there, the camera crew was already setting up to shoot the scene. It was a nice, small and private church. Since the camera crew took a while, the makeup artist began to apply makeup to our actors. When we began shooting, we had to make sure that we stayed quiet and still because it can affect the noise the camera gets on the boom microphone. Also, the church was small and kind of cramped so I had to keep moving around to see. We had to keep taking the same shot so many times because the actors kept messing up and sometimes, someone would be in the view or there was too much noise in the background. After this scene, we went back to the Boys and Girls Club to shoot another scene. Next, we took a lunch break. After lunch, we headed to our next destination; the house.
We did the rest of the scene in this house in three different areas, the bedroom, the living room and the basement. The basement scene was the longest because one of the actors did not memorize his lines so we had to take about forty trials until he got it right.
For the next two days, we kept shooting, but on Sunday, I found out that we lost half of the footage that we shot on our first day. So instead of shooting outside scenes on Monday, we went back and reshot the footage we lost again. Mr. G was telling us that it happens during movie taking and it is okay. This time it was better because the actors had done better at the acting and we wasted less time.
The following week, we took most of our outside scenes. It was difficult to watch because it was too cold and windy. I had times when I just had to sit down for a few minutes because we were standing up the whole time and I had not come prepared for the weather. We had a few complications like cars coming in the view because the place we were at, every minute or so we had a car driving by and our actor was trying to cross the street. Another was that the makeup artist did not do as well as what we would have expected when it came to the bruises. When we came to shooting that part, it was bad because our actor kept messing up and it did not look good on camera so we took that part out.
This was such a great experience because all of us were able to learn how the process to make a movie goes and this is nothing compared to Hollywood. I really had fun going through rehearsals and auditions. I especially had fun shooting. I would say that I learned to be patient because shooting took so long and it was so tiring to watch the camera men because they have to keep shooting the same scene about thirty times.
Bethany Rochell
Prompt 1
MY VOLUNTEERING EXPERIENCE:
As cliché as it might sound, I’ve always wanted to help people. No matter to what extent, I have pushed myself to be there for individuals, especially when others couldn’t. The idea of changing a life or helping someone in any little way has, I think, permanently given me butterflies. These butterflies leave me with no doubt in my mind that aiding others is what I was meant to do. I get this overwhelming feel of absolute joy and success when I have physically, mentally, or even emotionally made a being feel better, whether it be about themselves or a situation. Recently, after feeling lost about my future career plans, I talked to my mother for some support. I told her that I felt useless because I didn’t have any sort of “gift” or “calling.” I didn’t have something that was unique and just my own, I was just average. I mean I can’t sing, I can’t draw, I can’t dance, and I can’t act. My mother then looked at me with her brutally honest eyes and told me “But you do have a gift, do you not realize that you have the ability to talk to people? Ever since you were little you have always been the first one to care and help with others. You have always been empathetic and sympathetic to the plights and needs of those around you.” After being told this I realized she was right, my talent was being able to talk to and help people. I found that volunteering was thus my key to happiness. My experience with volunteering is not limited whatsoever; however one of the most rewarding instances was when I volunteered over 40 hours at a local child care facility. As I aided small children I found that for the first time not only was I changing a life, but mine was being changed as well.
I never would have fathomed that kids of no more than four to five years of age would successfully impact or change my life. As I walked into that child day-care I soon realized I was dead wrong. I love making people happy and I always try to do my best at encouraging others, so as I worked with those small children I was way more than excited. While helping out with the children I found myself doing more than just playing and being their “teacher.” I was something more, I was there friend. I never fully understood the simplicity of a child mind, how almost anything makes them happy, but at the same time how they are so easily frustrated. I realized that I wanted to be there friend and I wanted to be someone they looked up to. After just one single day of volunteering I realized I wanted to mentor and guide them, to show them right from wrong. Daily, I played with the children, colored with them, talked to them, fed them, and even helped put them to sleep for nap time. However, this was just not enough for me. In the first day, I noticed that I could help these small children, so that is exactly what I did.
In the proceeding days I began to do more than just act as a “teacher,” or “playground watcher,” I helped them to make decisions, to realize right from wrong; I explained things to them. I began to notice that when the adult supervisor yelded at the children or sent them to the “corner,” that I got very upset. I didn’t like or understand how a child could be sent to time-out without the full understanding of their actions. Obviously five year olds know the basic difference from what is right and what is wrong, but I felt without explanation of the situation they would just serve their time and go and do it again, which is ironically what they did. As a young, fun, nice, talkative, and polite volunteer I obviously gained the quick respect of the children. Most of them called me there “best friend” or the “best,” but I never really considered it an honor or anything until I left my duty as a volunteer there. Being there “best friend” allowed me to do what I did instinctually, help and guide. I was then able to talk with and explain situations and their outcomes, to them. It might seem to “grown-up” for young kids but it actually deemed quite effective.
When the children got in trouble or upset I simply went to them and talked. An instance of this is when two best friends stopped speaking to each other. This might not seem like a big deal, but I wanted to help. I asked one of the girls where her friend was, and she told me that her and the other girl were not friends. I then asked why, and she said because Brianna, the other little girl, began to talk to another child and it made her upset. After listening to her speak I asked her whether or not she thought that was fair. I brought up the idea that perhaps, like everyone, Brianna had lots of friends and that, like everyone, she talked to a lot of kids. I even told her that my best friend and I had lots of different friends, but we still talked to all of them. She just looked at me, and then I simply asked if she had other friends that she talked to, and she said yes. I told her that I would be upset if my friend did that to me because I liked having fun with her and being friends with her, and what if Brianna feels exactly like that. She then told me that she did miss Brianna and she wanted to be her friend again, but was afraid that she wouldn’t take her back. I told her to try, so she walked from me and up to Brianna. Next thing I knew they grabbed hands and ran off to the swings together. Remembering upon that moment makes me smile because it made me realize just how easily a child is influenced by the actions of others. Because of her, I wanted to be a better person, I wanted to be a positive influence on small children. I wanted to be looked up to and cherished as a friend instead of an average “plays ground watcher.”
As well, like mentioned above, it upset me when the children were sent to the corner without any explanation. I truly disliked the fact that the adults would yell and say “go to time-out,” because it was so typical. I felt like the adults were there just to “watch” and not to be involved. For me however, it was totally different, I really wanted to be involved. A little boy, I remember, got in trouble for taking a toy from his classmate and not sharing. He was told to go to time-out and that he would have to share with his peers. While in time-out the little boy was frustrated and upset so I went to talk to him. After hearing him complain how it wasn’t fair, I explained to him nicely that it was and why it was. I told him that there were plenty of toys and that the other child he was with wanted to share with him, and therefore it was “not nice” of him to steal the toy away. I suggested to him that sharing toys were fun because then “everyone gets to play and have fun.” The boy seemed to struggle, so I asked if he would like it if I didn’t share a toy with him, and he said that he wouldn’t and he would want to play with me. I explained that that was exactly how the other boy felt. After that was like a thousand bells went off in his head because his eyes lit up. He told me I was right, said sorry to me and the boy and then asked “can I play with you and the toy?” when he got out of the corner.
From those two experiences as well as many others I realized that I am not useless, in fact I’m was very useful. I helped to open up the emotional and social aspects of a child. I helped them to understand and see the difference between right and wrong. I was able to express myself on their level through pure sincerity and proper explanation. Not only did I impact their lives, they changed mine. Now every single day I make a conscience decision to be the best role model I can possible be. I always try to my fullest capability to make the right decisions, as if a little boy or girl were watching my actions. I felt by being a hypocrite; sharing ideas with the children and then doing the exact opposite of what I tell them, would be like lying to their little faces, and I could honestly never do that. In the end it was a win-win experience because I got to do what I love, help people, and at the same time had my life greatly impacted, by whom? The greatest teachers of all, children.
East Villagers Service Scholarship Essay
April 27th, 2010
Hi, my name is Adam Gaciarz and I’m currently a senior at West Seattle High School, graduating this June. I plan to go to college to study Music Marketing, Business, Communications, or possibly Audio Engineering. In the fall, I plan attending Seattle Central Community College to take prerequisite classes like English, Math, and Science. After that, I plan to transfer to the University of Washington to get a Bachelor’s degree that will help me get a good job in the music business. I’m constantly thinking about local bands, venues, show houses, press, record labels, creative DIY collectives, why they do what they do, and how they’re all connected and interlocked with each other. I constantly think about the inspiring quote, “Be the change you want to see in the world.” I’m inspired by similar-minded youth with leadership and communication skills.
I’m a member of the Steering Committee and a volunteer at Seattle music-arts venue The Vera Project. The people who volunteer at Vera have inspired me to be passionate, helpful, humble, and dedicated to helping make whatever I love grow. I volunteer at shows working jobs like photographer, concessions, security, show manager, lights, along with regularly attending Vera members meetings. As a Steering Committee member, some of my responsibilities include facilitating member meetings, running volunteer orientations, organizing volunteer appreciation events, filling steering position at shows, approving sponsorships, participating in board nominations before they are sent to general membership for approval, and representing members as liaisons between public, volunteers, staff, and board of directors. Find more info about Vera at http://www.theveraproject.org.
For two years in a row, I have booked, promoted, and organized an annual one-night-only Northwest Do-It-Yourself music festival called BirthDIYfest. After hearing about DIY fests like Carousel Festival and Hollow Earth Magma Festival, shows that brought awesome groups of well-meaning initiative-taking people together, I was inspired to create one myself. It would celebrate do-it-yourself ethics and Seattle’s creative music-arts community as a whole. I wanted everyone in the local DIY music scene to come and meet each other, to make connections, and have a good time. It’s as simple as I want to meet good people, and help them meet other good people. I didn’t get paid or anything, but this was something I just had to make happen.
In 2009, the first year I set BirthDIYfest up, it was a total experiment. I ran into many minor errors and problems. I didn’t start early enough, didn’t get enough ensured press coverage, the bands weren’t the very best I could find, etc. All the little problems I ran into the first year made me want to work much more efficiently and passionately the next. BirthDIYfest 2010 was a great success – hundreds of people came. I brought together dozens of artists, people from local record labels, venues, non-profit organizations, etc. to promote themselves at BirthDIYfest, my way of giving back to the good people of the local scene. I started planning, promotions, and booking six months before the show, and worked on it pretty continuously until the show date. Creating and setting up BirthDIYfest gave me the ability to reach out to local musicians and artists with a good, whole-hearted purpose backing me up, which helped me build relationships and gain VIP contacts. It made me realize how far ahead you have to plan large, crowd-drawing events like this. I am proud to say I booked one of the most popular pop bands in Seattle, BOAT, to headline, with support from awesome locals Kay Kay & His Weathered Underground, Feral Children, my band Kids and Animals, and The Nextdoor Neighbors. Check out photos and videos from the show at http://www.myspace.com/bdayfest.
I take photos at shows for an online music publication called Back Beat Seattle. This started out with me posting my show photos to Back Beat’s Flickr photo pool. One day I got an e-mail from the editor asking if I’d like to take and post photos for BBS. I gladly accepted, and it felt like a big compliment that she’d like me to be one of the photographers for the site. I post my photography of local musicians, bands, artists, friends, and things I like in my photostream, which you can view at http://www.flickr.com/photos/adamsayswhatt/.
I used to be the Promotions Manager of a local youth-run monthly fashion, music and arts publication called DIRT Magazine. These two girls started this idea of a magazine which covered Northwest indie bands, art, photography, and fashion. They had a MySpace and asked for people to get involved and volunteer. I was excited at the idea since it was run only by underage teens and it was about my favorite topics, so I asked how I could help. They were both excited to have me on board. Originally I was going to volunteer as a photographer, but my camera was broken at the time, so instead I started making banners, posting info about Dirt around online, taking Dirt to shows, events, and local music stores, and eventually became the Promotions Manager, sort of taking the roll in stride. We found places like the EMP, Seattle Art Museum, Seattle Drum School and more to buy advertising in the magazine and help support it for a few issues, but, after the fourth one, we couldn’t support the printing costs and had to end the project. You can read some past Dirt articles online at http://www.dirt-magazine.com.
I presently manage, book, promote, and play shows with a Seattle-based experimental indie rock band called Kids and Animals. As the band manager, I am responsible for all the connecting, mingling, researching, and communicating with local press and media, bookers, label owners, and other bands to constantly be in-the-know about what is current in the local scene. My band has proved to be a project that helps me grow in many different ways, whether it be gaining networking and communication skills, practice and concentration, organization, or most importantly, gaining experience in making quality relationships with people in the local music scene. I’ve learned to write professional press releases and one-sheets, and how to get those to local DJs, press, and record store owners. I’ve learned how to keep our electronic press kit and social networking sites like MySpace or Facebook constantly updated, interesting, and appealing to a pop target market. I’ve learned how to successfully convey information about our upcoming shows to local press like The Stranger or Seattle Weekly, and in turn have them write positive previews and reviews for us. I’ve learned to be patient on waiting for replies.
Our band has come a long way since 2006. Since self-releasing our self-titled debut in November 2009, our band has peaked at #8 on KEXP 90.3FM’s local music chart, was featured in KEXP’s Song of the Day blog and podcast, performed live and in-studio on KEXP, got into regular rotation on air, and has received much recognition for our sophisticated songwriting and unforgettable live show. Give us a listen at http://www.myspace.com/kidsandanimalsband and check out our electronic press kit at http://www.sonicbids.com/kidsandanimals.
I recently went on tours of local radio stations KEXP 90.3FM and 107.7 The End’s offices. It opened my eyes to the professionalism and high standards of a successful radio station. Seeing the people that worked there inspired me; they showed me that it’s not impossible to build a career based on one’s deep love for music. I saw that there were many different jobs when working with a radio station and in the music industry, and maybe they won’t make the most money in the world, but they seem so fun and rewarding. One of my dream jobs would be to work at a radio station. It is such an amazing, connected system that astounds me with all the little details, connections, and relationships that affect the success of a band. I love being genuine, down-to-earth, and detailed with people because then there’s little room for miscommunication, and more room for understanding and growing. Honesty is the best policy. Through volunteering so much, I’ve experienced and learned a lot. I’ve learned that helping others and being nice to everyone you meet is more important than only trying to help yourself out all the time. I’ve learned how rewarding volunteering really is.
Thank you for your time. I hope to hear back from you soon.
with much love,
Adam Gaciarz
WSHS Senior
Seattle, Washington
An Unknown Angel
By: Emily D. Hoffman
“You are destined to do great things and you can’t do them here…” These were the last words that my church camp counselor, Kris, said to me. I was thirteen years old and I was as confused as ever. Apparently Kris saw something in me that I failed to see. He saw a young woman, striving to help others, when all I saw was a scared, little girl who didn’t even know what she was going to have for supper that night. It was at this same camp that I met Kris that I found my calling, when I met someone who changed my life forever, and no, it wasn’t Kris.
“Uh-oh,” the camp counselor said, “looks like it’s going to storm. We should be hearing the emergency bell anytime now – ” Ding! Dong! “ – guess I was right, better start heading for the dining hall. So we followed our fearless leader back up the hill and out of the incoming storm. Once all of us thirteen year olds made it safely back, I waltzed into the large room and declared loud enough for all to hear; “What a beautiful storm! God truly outdid himself this time. I hope we don’t get a tornado.” I was hushed by another counselor that had a worried look on his face. “Please don’t say that. There’s a little girl over there under a table who is just terrified of tornados.” I looked over to see a little blonde-haired girl crouched under a table, swaddled in blankets…
If I may interrupt this flashback, I wish to make a comment. When I saw that little girl on that stormy July night, I don’t know what came over me. It seems that the only explanation to what happened next in this story is that God had something else planned for my life and in order for that to happen he made me go over to that little girl.
… I went over and crawled under the table with her. She couldn’t have been more than nine years old at the time, and I was only thirteen. At first I didn’t know what to do, I just kind of felt like I should go over to her and now that I was under the table I didn’t know what to do. So I stretched out my arms and wrapped her in them. She was so tiny and frail, like a little lost bird. I started talking to her, telling her about Heaven and about how God would never destroy something he loved. I never let go of her during the entire storm. But I couldn’t help but notice that she was absolutely gorgeous. She had platinum blonde hair only Swedes could dream of, a million freckles like those of red-haired children, and the bluest eyes like the ocean sea. But those blue eyes were red and her nose was running. The storm lasted for about an hour and she never left the comfort of my warm embrace. After the storm had ended, we were dismissed back to our groups. I didn’t see her for three days.
It was the last day of camp and everyone was saying their good-byes and pledging everlasting friendships. I was talking to another camper when suddenly a pair of arms wrapped tightly around my waist from behind. ‘Who is this?’ I thought. I uncoiled the arms and looked down to see my hugger. It was the little girl from the night of the storm, but now her eyes weren’t red and her nose wasn’t running. She looked up at me and said two words, ‘Thank you’. I just nodded my head and smiled, and then she ran off to hang out with her new friends for the few remaining hours. As she ran off all that was going through my mind was, ‘No, thank you’…
That was five years ago. Since then I have had no contact with that little girl, she didn’t even tell me her name. But I wish I new her name so that I could thank her for changing my life. After going back home and thinking about what had happened, it hit me. I like helping people, but what job could I pursue that lets me help people? I thought about being a psychiatrist, then a psychologist, but both of those involve lots of time and money for schooling, which I don’t have. A counselor was the next best thing; it fits the description of the job I was seeking. So that’s where I’m going in life. I will go to college for social work, get my degree, start working, then go back to school and get my masters in counseling. I eventually want to open my own office as a Christian counselor, a counselor that uses The Bible as an optional tool. God willing, that’s my life.
‘Thank you’, her little voice still rings in my ears. When asked to write an essay on a person who has changed my life I thought of many people. Family, friends, teachers, the list goes on and on. It could’ve been someone much older than me, much wiser. But God had other plans. He placed in my life this little girl; someone that I should be giving advice to. God works in mysterious ways, and he shows us everyday that we are not in control of our own lives. My life is forever changed by that encounter with that little girl. She taught me that sometimes the best thing to do is just comfort others in their time of need. Now it seems that my purpose to breathe is to help others. If a kid needs a ride home after a game or practice, I’ll help them. If someone needs a little money, I’ll help them. If they just need someone to talk to, I’ll help them. I mentioned earlier that I want to become a Christian counselor, but here are some other things that I plan to do later on: join the Peace Corps, become a living organ donor, adopt children. This little girl has had a snowball effect on my heart, she sent me spiraling into a path of self-sacrifice and unwavering love. There are angels among us, and this little, blond-haired is my angel… my
Unknown Angel.
Part 1: Please Share a volunteer experience and its impact on your life.
I first started volunteering last year when I joined Student Council. I’ve done adopt a road clean up, volunteered at science fairs, volunteered to read to elementary students, and helped put on a safe environment for trick or treaters at our school. Student Council also hosts some community service programs that help teachers. The students babysit the teachers’ children during parent-teacher conferences and we stay after school to help teachers with grading papers, arranging furniture, and organizing books. In the beginning, I only volunteered because it was part of the curriculum to do 20 hours of community service per semester, but now I volunteer because I enjoy helping others and enjoy getting the satisfaction of knowing I am changing someone’s life.
Lately, I have been volunteering at the mobile soup kitchen, run by a local church that I do not attend. At this mobile kitchen, we help set up and make the food that we will be giving to the homeless. I see about a hundred or more people getting in line for some food. Now let me tell you this is some good food because we believe that they deserve to eat the same type of meals we do. We even eat it for lunch when we are done serving them. We also make sure it is a filling meal; there is meat and vegetables, water and/or lemonade, and cookies or cake. They can take as much food as they want and they can even come back for seconds. Then we also have baby food and dog food just in case.
When people think of homeless people, the first words that come to mind are dirty, dumb, and worthless. However, when I think of homeless people I think of thankful, kind, and inspirational. Homeless people are not necessarily bad people, they are just people who made the wrong decisions or just had terrible luck. When I volunteer at the mobile soup kitchen I do not see them as just homeless people, I see them as friends that I am helping.
So far, I have only volunteered at the soup kitchen twice but I can already recognize people that came last time. I enjoy volunteering because I realize how I touch these peoples’ lives. Many of the homeless people are quiet when you give them the food but you can tell how grateful they are by the smile on their faces. A lot of them also say, “thank you” and “I really appreciate you guys coming out here and doing this.” I just smile and nod, and say “Your welcome.” These people barely have anything and they are so thankful that we come out there and help them out. Helping these people has really changed the way I look at life.
The mobile soup kitchen also helps homeless people a table of volunteer nurses that give free blood pressure tests. Although this is helpful, it does not help all the homeless people. There are people who are missing arms and legs and I want to be able to help them. I am aspiring to become an orthopedic surgeon and I am hoping to create a completely free clinic that will help everyone who cannot afford health care. I would also like to be able to provide surgeries for those that need it. The hardest part of creating a free clinic is receiving the money to perform these services and surgeries. But I am willing to fundraise to help and change the lives of these people the way they have changed my life.
One man in particular has really opened my eyes of how devastating it is to be homeless. John, a regular at the soup kitchen, recognized me from the last time I volunteered and said, “Ya know, it’s nice seein’ young people out here helpin’ out. If it wasn’t for you I probably would have not eaten today.” I nearly broke down and started crying because people do not realize what they have to go through every single day just to survive. Most people do not appreciate the simple things in life, too many are caught up with the latest gadgets and having the nicest stuff. On the other hand, the homeless people really appreciate that we are providing them with a meal.
The last time I went to the mobile kitchen John and I shared a conversation. He was talking about how everyone is killing this beautiful earth that god created and blessed us with. That we as a human race are endangering many animals by destroying forests for land and lumber. He told me that humans are selfish and that people should plant a tree for every tree they cut down. And, I agree with him, not only do trees help humans because they absorb carbon dioxide and release oxygen, which is what we need to survive, trees also provide homes for woodland creatures and insects. By planting trees, we are helping animals and the environment.
John also told me a story of his grandmother, who was a protester for whales. He told me that she tried to stop whalers from killing the whales. He said that she helped save the whales for over forty years until her death. Many species of dolphins, whales, and porpoises are endangered due to over hunting. Although commercial whaling is now illegal worldwide, there are still many things threatening their lives such as oil spills, water pollution, and development along coastal areas.
His insight has inspired me to volunteer for more community service projects. I would love to help the whales by cleaning up beaches, but there is not a beach near Colorado. But I can also help the earth by planting trees and simple things like turning off the lights when I am not using them and preserving water by taking shorter showers. I would also like to volunteer more and help my community. I can achieve this by doing more road clean ups and continuing to volunteer at the mobile soup kitchen. The people I have interacted with at the soup kitchen have really encouraged me to pursue goals that will better the lives of others and the earth. I hope that I have affected their lives as much as they affected mine.
In response to Prompt 1:
In November of 2009, the leadership program at Fort Walton Beach High School began preparing for Christmas Connection. It’s a program where student’s work together to provide canned goods, ham or turkey’s, Christmas trees, and presents for fifty five families in need during the holiday season. We also cover any bills these families may have been struggling with, for at least ten days. We were split up into groups of five and each group was given two families in need that we were to help. Both of the families I was assigned to were life changing, but one in particular really showed me how I could make a difference and how helping someone else really made an impact on my life.
The Schramm family had been going through an extremely difficult time, but did their best to ensure that nobody knew of their financial dilemma. By luck, the guidance counselor of the school one of their kids attends discovered that they were having trouble making ends meet, which was quite the understatement. They were referred to Mrs. Britt, my leadership teacher, who then passed down their information to me. I called the family and made arrangements to meet, then got my group together and went to learn their story. Mr. Schramm is a husband and a father to two kids, an eleven year old girl and an eight year old boy who suffers from autism. A few days after he was unexpectedly laid off from his employer, Mr. Schramm suffered from a seizure so severe that he dislocated and broke his shoulder. After experiencing a seizure, Florida law states that he is not legally able to drive for the next six months, abandoning any hope that he would soon begin his search for a new job. His wife cannot go out and work because she has to care for him, the two kids, and keep up with household chores. Also, their only car has broken down and he cannot work on it until his shoulder has fully recovered. His parents were providing the rent to keep their home for the past couple months for they understood the problems their son was facing. It had come time though where his parents could no longer support them and the issue of rent now fell on Mr. Schramm’s shoulders. It seemed as though we could not have stepped in at a more perfect time.
We had been fundraising for months and finally, on the Thursday before Christmas, all of the leadership kids went to Wal-Mart to shop for their families. We bought things that were essential to the house, such as kitchen appliances, towels, and bedding. We also bought toys for the kids, and any other items we thought our families would enjoy. We then spent a majority of our night back at my high school packaging and wrapping all of the presents up, and signing them from “Santa”. The following Friday afternoon, we made deliveries. My group provided the Schramms with two giant cardboard boxes full of food that would last well through the week of Christmas. While the boys brought in all the canned goods and other kitchen items, the girls in my group placed all of the presents under the tree. When we first walked in, they had a fake Christmas tree set up, with one tiny present under it that the little boy had made at school. After our work was done, the tree was overflowing with gifts and their kitchen was fully stocked with everything they could possibly need. We then stood in the living room, taking it all in, and talked to the family for awhile. The little boy then walked into the room and told us how excited he was because “…this was going to be the best Christmas ever!” He came up to us individually with the biggest grin on his face and thanked us, with a big bear hug, for bringing him the presents from Santa Claus. He then urged his older sister, who was a lot shyer than himself, to do the same. Mr. Schramm and his wife then began to cry because all of the worries about their children not having a good Christmas were lifted. In that moment, something inside me changed and I realized how much I learned by my efforts to help someone else.
I will never forget that little boy or his family. They were really showed me what it feels like to make a difference in someone else’s lives and it feels amazing. I know that my efforts helped to give them a Christmas and provided them with something to make memories from; is it something that they will always remember. I learned that giving back is one of the greatest opportunities I have ever been given. Until now, I never had done anything quite like this. By setting aside some of my time and effort, I contributed to an effort that changed many lives that night. I never realized that I could make such a difference to someone else’s life. My experience with the Schramms has inspired me to become more involved in any and all volunteer activities that I have the opportunity to join. I look forward to the next time I am able to make a difference in someone’s life. Because of this experience, I have made it my life’s goal to, once I am out of college, start a foundation that will help and support others, and make a difference in their lives. Another thing I learned through Christmas Connection is that getting credit for helping someone isn’t the main goal of volunteering. Although it may sound greedy, I used to believe that the most compelling reason to volunteer my time to community service was to be able to write it on a piece of paper to show to colleges that I was active in my community, in hopes that it would improve my chances of being accepted. But I have learned that it is so much more than that. After experiencing what it is like to truly make a difference, I could care less about that silly sheet of paper that holds my hours of community service. I now know the real reason for community service, and thanks to the Schramms and to Mrs. Britt for pushing me to get involved, I have learned the one of the greatest lessons of life: to help out is one thing, but to truly make a difference is a reward impossible to understand until you experience it yourself. My life was impacted greatly and I could not be more thankful for it.
While most teenagers have first jobs such as working at a fast food eatery or stocking shelves with various goods, I was part of a select few who were given the opportunity to teach an ancient art to new generations. This chance comes rarely to martial artists, and it is especially uncommon for teenagers. After gaining many years of experience, my instructor gave me the honor of assisting in several classes, while I was in 9th grade. Since then, I have elevated to the position of sensei (instructor). As a second degree black belt, I am given the privileged opportunity to equip youth with skills, values, and principles needed not only to survive a fight on the street, but also to survive the fight of life.
On top of developing focus, concentration, respect, and self-confidence, parents enroll their children in martial arts primarily for discipline. Those are precisely the reasons why my parents registered me for karate at the age of eight, when I was an extremely short-tempered boy. I remember coming home after my team lost a baseball game and shutting myself out from the world. I would not eat or talk, and I isolated myself from others. Although this behavior can be typical for children of that age, my parents wanted me to grow out of it and acquire self-confidence and discipline. The martial arts provided me an avenue to take out all of my frustrations and anger, as well as give me patience and a positive attitude. I was completely transformed after my first two years of karate, and I can honestly say that martial arts made me who I am today. I have the utmost respect for my peers and elders, self-driven motivation, and the indomitable fighting spirit that has gotten me through the highs and lows of life. I owe it all to my dedicated and inspirational instructors. I have benefited vastly from martial arts and I now pass my skills on to a younger generation.
My ambition is to lead children on the right trail in life and help them gain discipline because it is the most important principle anyone can obtain. In pursuit of this goal, I am able to be a positive change on young lives on a daily basis. At the end of every class, I have a talk with all of the students about honesty, courtesy, integrity, self-control, and perseverance. This conversation is far more important than anything I can ever teach them in class because it teaches them lifelong values. With the younger students, I discuss moral and ethical principles and encourage them to use manners and avoid foul language and play. With adolescents, I emphasize the importance of school and education as well as the dangers of drugs and alcohol. Every day I encourage students to make good decisions and motivate them to set personal goals.
Being a martial arts instructor requires me to wear many hats; I have to be a teacher, counselor, parent, doctor, therapist, entertainer, and friend. Some of my students need help in finding inner courage and strength, and I am here to aid them in that difficult process. Others are overly aggressive, and I am here to show them how to step back and approach situations in an alternative manner. I have been working with one particular student for over a year who was extremely stubborn and self- righteous. I had to be a mentor and show him that constructive criticism was something to listen to and always respect. Although today he still occasionally disagrees with his parents and teachers, he handles change in a much calmer manner and is steadily improving. As an instructor, I have to be the type of person anyone can go to for help. Whether it is a social, academic, or personal problem, I am always here to listen and lend a helping hand.
The martial arts is widely considered to be a sport or hobby; but in reality, it is a lifestyle. The martial arts has continuously prepared me for the real world and enabled me to become the best possible version of myself. This process also instilled in me maturity and wisdom beyond my years. Unlike the average teenager; I have stepped into a leadership roll that has helped me to excel in academics as well as in martial arts. In school, I take challenging courses, work hard at home to constantly improve my grades, and go to my studio to enlighten my students on how to become the best they can possibly be. I strive to change the lives of others with martial arts in the same way it changed me.
Prompt 2:
The first community service project that I listed on the community service form was the Lokahi Christmas Fundraiser that takes place annually and is designed to provide Hawaii’s homeless and less fortunate with Christmas gifts for children and their families. The 2009 Lokahi Christmas Fundraiser was truly an event that brought the Hawaii people together. The event took place at Hawaii’s Ala Moana Shopping Center. Once inside the shopping center you are able to see the tables laid out with all the brand new Christmas gifts all wrapped and waiting. The joy or receiving a Christmas gift is evident on the faces of the children and the work and the planning the workers do is apparent. This devotion to the children and more importantly how the families are affected was truly an example for me as I volunteered. The willingness and the internal desire to reach and touch the lives of those who were hurting financially during this time from then on was the driving force behind my efforts.
For the second portion of the Lokahi Christmas Fundraiser I collected donations on the side of the busy downtown street located right alongside the Ala Moana Shopping Center. I was moved by all those who, despite the fact that they had a destination, somewhere they had to be, stopped, rolled down their windows and stretched out their hands towards me with a donation. The leader of the outdoor portion of the Lokahi Christmas Fundraiser gave us water bottles frequently and continually thanked us for our time and efforts. The fact that he had given of himself and that he was still extremely thankful towards us made me believe that I was not only touching the lives of those who would be receiving the money and gifts, but also the leader himself. Therefore, this project truly made me believe that when you commit your time, it is just as valuable as money. Also, the effects of your giving are even more powerful when you openly show your willingness to help.
The second community service project that I listed was the Pouhala Marsh Clean Up in Waipahu, O’ahu. Waipahu is a community on the West side of the island of O’ahu. This community is far from my home and therefore I do not travel to that side of the island often. I have done many service projects in my community, but it was truly a blessing to be able to assist in the new developments and maintaining of another’s community. The Pouhala Marsh Clean Up required the volunteers to work on the marshlands and pull out invasive species that were preventing the growth of native Hawaiian plants. This was a task that I really enjoyed doing due to the fact that I was able to make an impact environmentally. The task was more manual labor than interaction with others and working in the marsh itself was an interesting experience. The marshland proved to be more difficult to work in than other hiking clean ups and public park clean ups, because it was messier, and the task was harder. I felt extremely accomplished, however, following the task due to the manual efforts that we put into it. The Pouhala Marsh Clean-up was a highly educational experience because before we got into the marsh we received a lesson on what native plants we were trying to save and the native Hawaiian birds that called the marshland their home. That allowed me to appreciate the fact that we were protecting the Hawaiian species and keeping their home secured and protected. As a group we were learning together the significance of this place that I otherwise would have passed by and never known.
The Lyon Arboretum Conservation Clean-Up was also a hands-on service project similar to the Pouhala Marsh Clean-up. However, the volunteers were required to work with all different plant species in the Arboretum, pulling invasive species, and marking those plants that should remain. The entire experience of working at the Lyon Arboretum was very awarding due to the fact that the Arboretum is located in the Manoa Valley which is a beautiful valley, also where my school is located. The scenery that I am able to enjoy every day is unsurpassed and being inside the Arboretum places you in the center of the natural beauty. The pure and pristine setting that we were able to work in was inspiring. The leader of the service project was a plant Grounds and Collections Manager as well as a Research Associate. He possessed extensive knowledge based on research of each Native Hawaiian plant in the Manoa Valley. Along with the scientific knowledge that we gained from him we also learned how to use the tools he gave us properly. I developed a unique appreciation for the plants that we let grow and what the invasive species looked like.
Serving as a volunteer for Holomua’s College Counseling Night was an extremely helpful event to participate in. This was due to the fact that as a junior in high school I was exposed to the college decision process. I had been researching colleges that year; however hearing information about the reasons for making a final decision was a great experience. I also served as a representative for Mid-Pacific Institute to both the faculty and the parents due to the fact we had to provide the parents with a personal tour around the school campus. I believed I was able to make the parents who were visiting the campus for the first time, and those who did not possess full knowledge of the school feel comfortable. I fulfilled my duty as a member of my school’s honor society by making parents feel as if they were becoming a part of the Mid-Pacific family.
The HI-5 Recycle Fundraiser was a fundraiser for my school where we collected cans and bottles from every recycling bin on our campus. Our state of Hawaii gives five cents per bottle to those who recycle, giving the project the name HI-5 Recycle. Our school also recently obtained a large blue recycling bin so the school was able to receive the money directly on campus. This community service was extremely rewarding because I was able to develop relationships with my classmates who participated in the event. Our school has eight hundred fifty students in high school alone so I believe community service is a way to allow you to associate with classmates you would otherwise never see enough to converse with. This service project allowed us to help both the environment and provide our school with more finances. Building relationships with my classmates as well as strengthening those relationships with close friends and faculty at my school has been a goal throughout my high school experience.
White Shoes by Marisa Urgo
Prompt: 1
I have been involved in St. Gregory’s Youth Group since I was a freshman. The group helps the church by assembling holiday events, but also focuses on community service. In the past, we have done food drives and walks to raise money, but my favorites have always been the midnight runs.
I love facing the bitter cold to help out those who need extra support, because you get to see firsthand whom you’re helping and what you’re giving them. Anyone can donate to a charity, but actually meeting the people who are benefiting from your service means so much more. You don’t know true gratitude until you see despair change to hope in a stranger’s eyes. In this past one, my final run with the youth group, changed my life forever because I came to understand true selflessness. I found the true definition of “giving the coat off your back”, and how you can put others above yourself even when you have nothing.
Before the run, we take in food donations as well as make our own soup, coffee, and sandwiches. The clothing donations are all separated by age and sex. A lot of the clothes are jackets and warm attire, since the runs are usually in the winter, when people need clothing the most. It is a lot of labor work, but it’s exciting to load it all onto the truck and get going to New York City. This past January, the wind was biting and I was shivering unstoppably, despite my warm winter coat and gloves. I stood to the side to get soup for myself when I noticed a man standing to the side of the massive crowd. Whenever we hand out the clothes, the homeless tend to swarm the truck and it can be a bit chaotic. The fact that this man was standing aside from the mass of people made me first notice that something was different about this man. After polite conversation, I asked the man if there was anything specific he wanted.
There was.
White shoes.
The man introduced himself as Steve, and explained his situation to me and why the white shoes were of the utmost importance to him. Steve had just recovered from a drug problem that rendered him homeless, and now he was without a family and somewhere to stay. Being a taller, hefty man, he was lucky enough to find a job offer in a security guard company. However, the only requirement was that he provides his own uniform; black pants, black button up shirt, and white sneakers. Due to his situation, he couldn’t afford to spend money on a new pair of sneakers.
I got right to work. After talking with Steve, he seemed like a regular guy, complete with his own political beliefs about Obama and full of jokes about his situation to make it brighter. He was so easy to relate to, and it gave me more of a passion to help him out. I searched the truck endlessly, but alas, we had no white shoes.
I broke the news to Steve, but he said it was no problem, thanked us, and walked off. Needless to say, I felt unsettled. I wanted to help someone who had such a promise to get his life back together. I saw his desire to rebuild in a genuine way, and felt disheartened that I couldn’t help.
However, I did see a great act of kindness that night that led to an infamous pair of white sneakers. A boy not from our group, Matt, was riding along with us when he spotted a man distraught because the group had no more available coats. Without any thought at all, Matt took his own coat right off his back and offered it to the man, only in return for one thing; the answer to a question.
Where can we find white shoes?
That’s when I jumped in.
I immediately supplemented the question with Steve’s story, and the man with Matt’s coat led us to his own supply of clothing. I was absolutely delighted when I saw a pair of white sneakers lying at the very bottom.
Despite the warnings of the group, I darted down the street to try and find Steve. I did, and happily presented the box to him. Steve seemed really happy about my discovery, and tried the pair on in front of me. They fit, but I saw Steve’s smile fade. When I asked what was wrong, Steve’s answer forever changed the way I look at the definition of selflessness.
Steve thanked me for finding the shoes, but asked that I take the shoes to someone else who could get better use than he. He said, “I have shoes on my feet. Yeah, I want these, but I don’t really need them. Give them to someone who does.”
I was stunned. I didn’t understand how Steve could be so selfless when he was in a tough situation himself. A person who isn’t suffering from homelessness might say Steve did need those shoes, but he was able to differentiate between want and need in such a way that I’ve never seen. I would like to say that those white sneakers went off to someone in need of any shoes at all and that Steve got his job despite not having the proper attire, but I just don’t know. I suppose I will always wonder Steve’s fate, but he inspired me with hope and the knowledge that I have the power to help all the other Steves of the world.
The lesson I learned from Steve and Matt was that you need to put people above yourself. I had been doing community for four years prior to this event, but I had never really put myself aside. Sure, I sacrificed time, but I had never sacrificed something I thought I “needed”, like my coat or shoes. I was really put in awe by the way Steve, although he was in a bad situation himself, realized that other people could be worse off than him. He saw light at the end of the tunnel for himself, and wanted to spread that light to others. I readjusted my ideas on what “wanting” and “needing” actually mean, and now I understand that it’s easy to confuse the two. In the future, I will continue my midnight runs in college or even make an independent group if I have to. The joy I get from volunteering and making a legitimate difference in people’s lives is something I want to stick with me forever. When you are able to support yourself, you feel sufficient, but when you have the ability to help others in the palm of your hands, it’s silly not to throw off your coat and get to work.
“My momma does drugs; she used to beat me up. I do not want her to hit me anymore.” My ears rang and my eyes squinted as I listened. It was as if fire was being spit by this petite, blond girl. Her eyes were dark and gloomy, while her face seemed to never invite a smile; I glanced at her once more as the wind brushed her fragile hair. “Keep pushing me! Go! Go! Go!” She yelled at me through the breeze, as if nothing had happened. I kept pushing her swing seat, gaining momentum, and then falling, rising once more and falling. It was an example of the stability she held within her life, nothing was for certain, and her mother? She was doing crack cocaine in the corners of alleyways.
My much anticipated Saturday was halted by a project I had taken upon myself along with a few other church mates. I was not feeding the needy or toiling over soil, I was going to aid the staff at the child crisis center.
The children were dressed in colorful clothing, their hair was combed perfectly in place, and their faces exuded a sense of loneliness, yet, at our arrival there was no sign of this. All the children slept until ten.
Eight of us cramped into a walk-in closet and the work began. We initiated our duties by folding their second hand clothing and winter sweaters into stacks. Silhouettes of curious children peeped out from a room down the hall. It was quite funny to me for the reason that they resembled whack-a-moles. They climbed down their bunk beds in cartoon pajamas and headed for their bedroom door, they stared in awe.
“Breakfast children!” yelled the head caregiver, and before their eyes delectable plates of grains and cereal, vibrant shades of colored fruits, and refreshing mugs of milk were set. After breakfast the children brushed their teeth and ran outside to play with our church group. The playground was nearly falling apart and half of their balls were flat, and though the image of their backyard seemed meager, the children treated it like a pot of gold. One girl in particular was very close to me, and as if we had known each other for years. Her hand got a hold of mine and walked me onto the slide where she slid in joy and afterwards she dragged me to the swings where the words she would speak could be heard for miles. I learned about her mother and how she would treat her, and that is when I noticed her learning disability. Her physical state reflected that of an eight year old but her vocabulary resembled one of a five year old.
After the play date we gathered in the kitchen to serve the children lunch and then we passed our own little buddies baskets overflowing with Easter treats. Their faces gleamed as they opened their baskets filled with crayons and coloring books, and I taking for granted the mountains of coloring books and supplies I had back at home. At that point in time I had an epiphany realizing that you do not need material things to make you happy even if you are living in a material world. Having a family, health, and having your basic needs met is enough to bring fulfillment to your life. You do not need the quilted leather Chanel hand bangs, or the velvet Jimmy Choo pumps like the fashion magazine ads formulate you to buy.
After lunch the children went to their rooms for a nap while we spent the rest of our day engaging with the babies and toddlers who were running around in an inside playground. It was a heartrending sight to see so many of them in the child crisis center. After all, they were dropped off there because their parents could not, or they were not able to look after them. Many were kept enclosed because of their current medical conditions and others were connected to machinery. Looking at their fragile bodies gasp for air the nurses let us know some of the babies had mental retardation and therefore we could not play with them. This made me look back at my childhood. I could run, I could play, I can now read and write, and I have lived a normal life, they could or could not live as so, and all because of their development in the wound.
When you wake up and hit your bedroom floor with the bottom of your feet, walk towards your bathroom mirror and stare at your reflection, who do you see? Do you even realize that your brain sends a message down your spine and to your legs in order for you to walk? Are you ever thankful that your brain can communicate with the rest of your body, you can think for yourself, and be able to solve those complicated calculus equations? These children, who cannot yet communicate, send me a message which made me be thankful for my health, something I take for granted.
The day wrapped up and each of us went our separate ways, we did not have to speak, our faces said everything and we all knew this had impacted each and every one of us some way or another. We all went home thankful and aware of the circumstances of others, where we could feel that we were lucky to have everything we owned. We had new perspectives on life and no books could have taught us what we learned that day. As middle class high school students we are in a little bubble and we are only aware of what surrounds us, we do not look below the surface. It is activities like this that opens our eyes to see horizons that lie ahead and to explore the world. As a result, our youth group has been volunteering every year at the Child Crisis Center at El Paso, Texas, a community is primarily Hispanic with a high poverty and teenage pregnancy rates.
My parents have been my biggest example when it comes to providing community service. As far back as I can remember, they have been volunteering their time and money to assist others. As I have grown up, I have found many opportunities to give of my time. Here are a few examples of the service that I have been a part of and how they have impacted me. Our church partnered up with a local committee, which had put in a walking/bike trail in our neighborhood, to plant just over 450 trees and bushes along the five-mile trail. Not only did I assist in this planting but I also helped to water these 450+ trees and bushes for two years: weekly in the summer, bi-monthly in the fall and spring and monthly in the winter. This was such a privilege as this trail runs close to my home and my own family uses it almost daily. It was a real challenge to do the watering, as it would take 3-4 hours each time we would do it starting at 6:30 a.m. on Saturdays. But I have seen the results of all that volunteer time: the trail looks great and is enjoyed by many. The 3-Day Walk for a Cure now uses this trail!
I have also participated in a volunteer lawn service for the past three summers for two widows in our congregation. Several of the young men in our church, including myself, take turns mowing, raking, pulling weeds, etc. each week during the summer. I have really enjoyed doing this as I think of these two elder women like they are my own grandmothers. My own grandmothers live out of state and I would like to think that if they ever needed this kind of service, there would be some young men out there that would come to their aid. The only payment we received was their expressions of gratitude and the occasional plate of cookies. Not a bad trade off.
Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts have been a big part of my life since I was eight years old and I have served in several leadership positions over the years. I also earned the honor of Eagle Scout by completing a project that required installing two concrete pads (10X4) and two metal park benches in the front of the elementary school where my siblings and I had attended for 19 years. I wanted to give back to this school that had laid such a great foundation for me in my early education. I was able to interact several times with the PTA budget committee, the principal of the school and the physical maintenance manager at the school district to obtain donations and approval for this project. I also was able to recruit 20 other Boy Scouts to assist me and we logged in approximately 115 man-hours to complete this task. The most rewarding part was the seeing all the parents and children using the benches. I know that the benches will be around for along time and will be put to use.
In addition to my own Eagle project, I have worked with at least ten to twelve other Boy Scouts to complete their projects. Some examples of the projects: building bleaches for city league fields, gathering and repairing bicycles for Hurricane Katrina refugees, donating blood at a blood drive, gathering worn out American flags and properly disposing them, setting up a computer lab at a women’s shelter, cleaning a natural habitat trail and building owl houses, refurbishing wooden benches at a local sports park, and building and installing wooden interactive displays for special needs children at a local center. I learned many new skills while performing the different types of service but the most important thing that I learned was how it felt to give of myself. I know that the service I was able to provide made a difference to others. Hopefully my acts of service will encourage others to find ways to serve as well.
I also joined Interact, a service-oriented club for seniors at my high school this year and our most recent project was to gather medical equipment; crutches, braces, wheelchairs, etc. to help in the relief efforts of the Haitian people, who suffered from a catastrophic earthquake earlier this year. Though we were not able to personally go to Haiti, I know that what we were able to donate helped to ease some of the burden these people were feeling. They have some many needs and no one person came take care of them all, but together we can.
My youth group at church recently went about collecting and then donating supplies (baby clothes, toys, underwear, socks, diapers, wipes and activity kits which included crayons, chalk, scissors, glue and paper) for a local organization called Vocal Alcove. This is a non-profit organization that offers homeless parents a safe place to leave their children while they work to rebuild their lives, find work and complete their education. They are the only early childhood program in Dallas that provides free service for young children who reside with their families who live in homeless and domestic violence shelters. What a great service Vocal Alcove provides and by donating supplies, we can help them to continue to provide this great service.
All of these service opportunities have helped me to realize how fortunate I am and how I have a responsibility to try and help ease the burdens of others. That even small acts of service are worth it. My parents have taught me that those with an education are in a better position to provide service to others. I know that I will continue to search out and participate as an individual and in groups with those that reach out to help others, both while I am in college and after I have graduated. I can make a difference one act of kindness at a time and through my example came help others to do the same.