North Allegheny Senior High School
Senior? Yes
Elite top 100? Yes
Letters of recommendation: Letter of Recommendation 1, Letter of Recommendation 2
Purpose and meaning can be found in different places for different people. Personally, I’ve always found meaning in two things: music and volunteerism. To me, there is no greater joy than that of using your talents and your passions to impact the world.
Music has the power to change people’s lives. I once read a Trib article about a singing doctor who would sing to newborn babies after he delivered them, and it got me thinking: here’s a man who not only excelled in his job, but also made a difference in people’s lives. I would also like to make this kind of difference in people’s lives through volunteering.
I’ve been volunteering for a very long time. I’ve volunteered my voice at church. I sing on the weekends, and I’ve volunteered with an annual production of their passion play. I’ve volunteered at Hosack Elementary, educating fourth graders through the music of Hamilton. I’ve volunteered at the Pittsburgh Youth Chorus’ weeklong Summer Residency Workshop, where I served as both a counselor and also as a teacher and role model, inspiring kids in a love of music. Since then, I have branched out beyond music in my volunteering efforts from working at bingo nights at Vincentian Home to creating an ongoing service project in which I coordinate volunteers to tutor fifth graders at Hosack Elementary School.
So to me, volunteerism is using your talents to make a difference in someone’s life. That’s what I aim for – to make a difference, and my volunteer work has allowed me to begin to realize that goal. For me, showing students how to read eighth notes, or seeing an elderly citizen’s face light up when they call “Bingo!” gives a meaning to my life that is unique and real. Eventually, I aim to make big discoveries and change the lives of people on a global scale through my work as a neuroscientist and doctor. But for now, I am fulfilled by the fact that I was able to make a difference in the life of that one boy who I stayed up with all night at Summer Residency Workshop because he was homesick. I was able to make a difference in the life of a fifth grader I tutor when he finally figured out how to reduce fractions. I was able to make a difference in the lives of the people who came to see the passion play by showing them a story that meant something to all of us. That is my meaning, that is my purpose. I volunteer because one person at a time, I can begin to make a difference.
Volunteering makes the world a better place, one step at a time. To change the world, you just have to make a difference to individual people. Throughout my life, I will keep volunteering and keep educating the future innovators and the future leaders of our country. Volunteerism, to me, is a means to making my community and the world a better place.