Montour High School
Senior? Yes
Elite top 100? Yes
Letters of recommendation: Letter of Recommendation 1, Letter of Recommendation 2
Nathan Del Santo- Montour High School
Trib Total Media Outstanding Young Citizen Award Scholarship Essay
Volunteerism is crucial to moving the world forward. Because of this, giving one’s time and using one’s energy to better society is truly essential. The world has always improved and will continue to improve with such acts of service. For me, volunteering has meant learning, improving the status quo for others, and forming valuable friendships.
Volunteering has truly allowed me to understand the struggles and needs of others. Before volunteering often, I took a lot of things in my life for granted. After becoming more involved, I realized how fortunate I truly am. This especially applies to my church’s food pantry, which is based in a trailer park community. Working in such capacity has allowed me to understand the poverty that many people find themselves in. It has been an honor to meet the basic physical need of providing food to these individuals, which aids in lifting a financial burden. Meeting this need has allowed the team to build relationships with the residents, which is the first step in our ultimate goal of being able to provide them with tools to escape poverty.
I have also had the privilege to work on a few church construction projects and assist with landscaping maintenance. The construction of a new youth center, an ongoing construction project, will serve as a place that can create sustainable change for youth within the community. This building will certainly help others in the future, but it has allowed me to grow as well. This project, as well as assisting with the landscaping maintenance, has allowed me to form great relationships with some of the men in my church, who have taught me extremely valuable construction and landscaping skills that I can use throughout my life.
In June 2018, I also had an amazing opportunity to go on a mission trip to Rwanda. This allowed me to help many people in need and allowed me to experience another culture. Through this, I was able to learn how people outside of the United States live and become aware of the struggles faced in different cultures. This opportunity provided me a way to use Christian principles in a foreign country while also assisting people with their physical needs. Because of this trip, I was able to connect with amazing people impacting Rwanda in such valuable ways; I would like to continue being a part of creating change there and in other foreign countries.
Volunteerism has been very important to me, as it has given me the ability to assist and understand the hardships of others. Volunteering now has given me the desire to continue volunteering and helping here or abroad for the rest of my life. Knowing that I can provide support to different organizations and improve the lives of others is extremely special to me because I know that I am creating change in the lives of those that need it.