Fox Chapel Area High School
Senior? Yes
Elite top 100? Yes
Letters of recommendation: Letter of Recommendation 1, Letter of Recommendation 2
On weekends, I would play music for the residents at the Amber Woods at Harmar Village care center. The most memorable times I went were when I was assigned to the Center for the Memory Impaired, for those struggling with dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. I would play the keyboard, and my older brother would play the saxophone. We would play some famous classical tunes, or holiday songs whenever they were in season, but old, iconic songs from the like “What a Wonderful World” or jazz music like “Round Midnight” made up the majority of our music catalog.
Sometimes a resident’s family would visit, and watch the music alongside them. It was a heartwarming sight to see the joy on their faces when they recognized a child or grandchild come to see them. However, too often in the Center for the Memory Impaired, the resident couldn’t recognize their own family. To them, their very own child or grandchild was just a friendly stranger. I think of one instance when a resident and her son were speaking in between songs, and when I saw the pain on the son’s face as he realizes that his mother no longer recognizes him, I wanted to do more. I needed to do more.
My volunteering experience has opened my eyes. It has shown me many moments like these, the moments when I realize there are problems too great for any one person to completely solve. But I also think of when that mother and son were together, humming the melody to “Hey Jude.” In that brief instance I could give them peace. There are some things that I can do, some skills that I possess. If a situation arises where I can use those skills to help someone, it’s my responsibility to do so.
When asked about why I chose to study neuroscience, I usually give some answer about how it combines my two favorite fields of science, biology and psychology, but I think that this is the real reason. Nobody deserves to have their entire sense of self taken away by some disease. But today’s medicine has no cure. These people have lost so much, and there isn’t much of anything that can be done to help, especially not from me. But when my brother and I play the opening bars of “Hey Jude,” the residents would immediately recognize it and and start to sing along. I can’t solve the problem, but there is something I can do. Even if it’s only for a few moments, even if it’s only a small comfort, I can make their lives better, and bring some good into the world.