EVSS Team 2 Servant Scholars

Karina Legradi, 21, Emory University, Hattiesburg, MS (Team Leader) - It would be an honor to be an East Villagers Service Scholar Intern. For years, I have been consumed with my academic priorities, but have never been able to put my education to a tangible use. This changed after I volunteered in orphanages for disabled children in China in high school. I formed a close friendship with a 5-year-old boy with cerebral palsy in a rural village in Shanxi Province named Tian Li. I still felt helpless after I returned to the United States, so I became the president of a club that funds surgeries for disabled orphans. I was finally able to return to China this past year and twice visited Tian Li and the other orphans with whom I developed close relationships years ago. The ability to have candid dialogue with the orphans and caregivers in Chinese made me feel like I am actually making a difference. I had been learning Chinese for six years, but never before had to use that knowledge in a practical way. As an intern, I could use my computer science and website editing skills [http://www.coldwar.hu and http://students.emory.edu/chinacare], as well as improve how I blog and fundraise. I hope to inspire the same kind of passion for a non-profit cause in others as I have for the disabled orphans in China. I believe that being an intern with East Villagers will help me attain that goal. There is so much need in the world and we should all do our part to ease the burden of the less fortunate. I hope to gain this sense of accomplishment that I am making a difference in the world by using the tools of my education and my background as a volunteer for a non-profit for the past six years.

Community service is natural for me. When we see someone cry from pain or emotional hurt, we immediately want to aid that person. Seeing how the average person lives in China inspires me to do something worthwhile with my life. My Western lifestyle is so limited in its outlook and closed off from the vast majority of the world. Being in China has changed my outlook so dramatically since the first time I went almost six years ago. I have spent half a year living, studying, and traveling throughout China. I have been to seven orphanages in three different provinces. These experiences have changed me more than words can explain. To witness poverty and simply walk on past it, is an inconceivable concept to me. To witness joy in a child’s eyes despite severe disability and abandonment by one’s own parents and not be changed somehow, is also an inconceivable concept to me. The internet is the most powerful tool of this newly globalized society. Its capabilities cannot be underestimated. Mere years ago, a similar ability to reach such an expansive range of people would have been very difficult. I hope to use blogging and social media to inspire young people like myself to donate, fundraise and most importantly, increase awareness of the greatest needs of this world we share.

Without a doubt, I would donate to China Little Flower, which is the organization that funds the care of Tian Li and the other disabled orphans who I have known for the past six years. I am currently an orphanage assistant for Love Without Boundaries, and also the president of the Emory China Care club, which is a college chapter of the China Care Foundation. All of these are volunteer positions and I support them because I am so dedicated to the cause, so I may also give some of the $1000 to these organizations as well. Either way, I would definitely donate to an organization that serves the orphans in China.

Jenny Combs, 16, Evangel Classical Christian School, Alabaster, AL - East Villagers has given me the opportunity to see that community service and volunteerism isn’t just about others – it has shown me more about myself than I ever would have imagined. The Service Scholar Intern position would allow me to partner with others on a worldwide scale, in addition to opening my eyes to humanitarian issues. I think that the internship will provide me with a great opportunity to expound upon my writing skills and ability to succeed under deadlines.

Community service is really all about finding the needs of people and meeting them. Whether it be serving in a homeless shelter or helping someone carry the groceries into their house, knowing that I am available to help someone and sacrifice my time gives me great joy and a sense of accomplishment. Most of my peers are concerned about college at this point in life, and showing that community service looks good on college applications and can also be fun at the same time will help me to inspire others my age. Organizing events like food drives or cleaning up someone’s house is not only rewarding for the receiver, but also the giver. Showing my friends and other youth that community service isn’t only about helping people but also about teamwork, character building, and friendship-fortifying is sure to make them jump on board with volunteerism.

I would like to use the money to partner with an international missions group to go overseas. Possible groups include Youth On Mission and the International Mission Board. I have a passion to reach out to European countries like Scotland, England, and Ireland. The money will give me the opportunity to serve others and gain an insightful view of the world around me.

Joy Liu, 18, Duke University, Loma Linda, CA – I believe in the power of service. Throughout high school, I spent my free hours tutoring children at Study Buddies, contributing to children programs at the local library, volunteering as an assistant at the San Diego Museum of Art, and playing flute melodies at a local nursing home. More than any class or organization I participated in, serving others instilled within me a satisfaction I could find nowhere else. Despite my enthusiasm for community service, I felt that my efforts were disparate and unlinked, my knowledge limited. That is why, upon seeing the EV Service Scholar Internship program, my heart skipped a beat. The program can fill the gaps in my knowledge and give me the skills to write a new chapter of my life—one that exemplifies my dedication to service and produces results to show it. As a college freshman about to enter Duke, I am eager to learn about global issues, social injustices, and solutions from the perspective of an organization that is interested in finding the answers through action. I am keenly interested in pursuing a Certificate in Global Health and the internship program would serve as a vital supplement to my college education—providing the insight that would take me beyond my knowledge from the classroom and into its application as a solution. More importantly, EV’s close collaboration with NGOs presents an invaluable glimpse to the career field that I am interested in pursuing beyond college—namely, working with health-related NGOs in Asia or the UN. It is my hope that the internship program will both instruct and inspire. I want to not only learn about marketing methods and hone my writing skills through a blog, but also be motivated to possibly even begin my own service projects and promote those on the Duke campus.

Community service is placing the words value and meaning into knowledge. It enables me to apply what I learn in the classroom to society through actions that will help those around me. Everything that I possess a deep passion for, including global health, medicine, education, and Asian culture, inspires me to share my experiences and knowledge with others. To me, this passion possesses an inherent call to action that is the single greatest inspiration for service. My interest in areas such as medicine and global health don’t stem simply from a desire to understand the scientific data and social treatises surrounding the issue, but to ultimately apply this knowledge to a meaningful project—one that will ease someone’s suffering and inspire. This has been the force behind all my community service endeavors. My love of art has taken me to classrooms and enrichment programs as an art teacher eager to spread the joy of creativity. My passion for music and health has led me to nursing homes to soothe through Bach and Mozart. Now, my dedication to service and to NGOs has motivated me to apply to this internship program. Through it, I wish to apply my knowledge for causes such as promoting NGOs serving in Asia. In addition, I wish to gain knowledge and inspiration from the experience to better equip me with the skills I need to serve others. Besides community service, I have also been very dedicated to the cause of education, especially arts education during my high school years. With experience from this program, with the possibility of working with NGOs abroad, I can make a contribution to educating youth about the value of service. If they can glimpse just a hint of the passion I carry for service and education, it will be worth it.

With the $1000 internship scholarship, I hope to attend a service project abroad aimed at addressing global health issues and reducing health disparities in Asia. One service project that interests me is the Good Samaritan Medical and Dental Ministry’s mission trip to Vietnam during the summer to bring medicine and health care to those who do not have access to it. The service project blends service, health, faith, and leadership that embody a successful service project to me. In addition, I would be able to apply the knowledge I learn from the internship to actual fieldwork experience that I could share through East Villagers by blogging. The scholarship would help me finance such a trip and cover expenses and would be crucial to helping me complete my service scholar education.