McKeesport Area High School
Senior? Yes
Elite top 100? Yes
Letters of recommendation: Letter of Recommendation 1, Letter of Recommendation 2
Growing up, I did not understand how much a helping hand could affect a person’s life. Throughout my life, I have been blessed to have various helping hands, whether it be people I know well or complete strangers, guide me through times of need. My Pap however, has been the single greatest influence in my life. Every day, he gave me the motivation I needed to get through a tough day at school and work, but he helps others as well. There have been countless examples that I have witnessed in which he has not only gone out of his way for me, but anyone who happens to cross his path. I have seen complete strangers simply asking for money, and he would give them whatever was in his pocket. Besides my Pap, there have also been many strangers helping me along my path. The most impactful that comes to mind is from my junior year of high school. I was in a terrible car accident, and as I crawled out of the car and fell to the ground, a man came out of nowhere and helped me sit up. I was terrified, but a complete stranger sat with me in the rain with no jacket, talking to me just to calm me down. He was not obligated to do this, but he did and I am grateful for that man. Through working for the public works of McKeesport, I am often out and around the city. I have seen people help walk one another across busy streets, carry groceries, pick trash up, or simply tell stories and laugh with one another. All of these experiences made me look within myself and understand just how important helping one another is. To me, volunteerism means going out of one’s way to help another, make their day easier any way you can, building up your community in the simplest way, or simply treating people how you would like to be treated. The volunteering I have personally done takes place at UPMC McKeesport hospital on Saturdays doing what I can to lend my own helping hand. From organizing newspapers to walking room to room giving out snacks, or just asking someone how their day is and making a new friend, no task is too small for me to help those in need. As a senior, I am involved in the Penn State Talent Search program as an Ambassador, and it usually involves helping out the middle school students. I enjoy going over to their school and answering all of their questions about high school and calming their nerves about what lies ahead. I love being seen as positive role model, because everyone needs someone to look up to. My Pap is my role model, and I hope to carry on what he taught me to anyone who comes to me for guidance. Volunteering is something that makes the world a better place one person as a time, and I hope to take this amazing gift with me and spread it all over the world on a daily basis, person to person for the rest of my life.