Deer Lakes High School
Senior? Yes
Elite top 100? Yes
Letters of recommendation: Letter of Recommendation 1, Letter of Recommendation 2
My upbringing and my faith have always urged me to look for ways to be of service to others. Being heavily involved in my church, particularly since joining the youth group in 2013, I put a high priority on the community service with which it has allowed me to become involved. For the past four years, I have served with them as a crew member on an annual week-long mission trip to impoverished areas in Philippi, West Virginia. Working through Heart and Hand Ministries, our work teams rebuild and repair deteriorating homes. I enjoy this work because I am able to utilize the skills I have to improve the lives of others in a way that meets their needs. I also lead my church’s chapter of Operation Christmas Child. Through this international program, gifts and hygiene items are collected during the year, culminating in a November “packing day” where of hundreds of shoeboxes are stuffed with the items that will be sent to kids who might never have received a gift from anyone, let alone a Christmas gift that year. This program directly impacts less fortunate kids across the world, and I see it as my mission to spread the love and happiness that the season should hold. Beyond this, I volunteer at my church’s Vacation Bible School, serving children in our local community. I also regularly volunteer at numerous events such as the one we host on Thanksgiving Day which is open to anyone in the community who might have not family with whom to spend the holiday. Through any volunteer activity I pursue, large or small, my focus is to find a way to benefit the people around me.
Volunteerism has not only helped me evolve my own faith, but I have also watched it directly alter the faith of those being served. Whether that be faith in a spiritual context or merely faith in the good of humanity, it gives both giver and recipient a new perspective on life and builds character on both sides. Serving the needs of others brings people together. It allows us all to see more clearly what we have in common rather than how we might be different. I plan to continue this same type of involvement throughout my college and adult life, looking for new ways to serve others through campus organizations and hopefully continuing to serve with my church mission trips in the summer months. If I have learned one thing through volunteerism, it is that you are unable to put a price on the work you do for others. While I know that my volunteerism has had some small on impact on others, I have learned that volunteering does as much good for the person serving as it does for those who are served.