A Passion For Community Service

Ever since I can remember, I have had the intense desire to help people. In high school, I joined Kiwanis Key Club and National Honors Society; both organizations allowed me to gain hours of volunteer experience helping families in need within my own community. Both organizations have annual events to benefit our community. At Christmas, Key Club adopts a few families and we buy clothing and toys for the kids. Our efforts to make the holidays a more enjoyable time for the families removed the parents’ burden of having to worry about being able to pay bills after getting presents for their children. Also, National Honors Society holds a blood drive every year in coalition with the American Red Cross. Last year our blood drive was in honor of a little girl in our community with leukemia.

For me, this ideal means living a life of service by being receptive to the needs of others and by being a voice to the underserved members in one’s community. From a physician’s standpoint, this value could manifest as a thoughtful doctor who sees people and not diseases; pains and not symptoms; friends and not patients. This principle of valuing all people while committing to a life of service is something I have strived for throughout my life.

People may think of service as being in a war or being part of our government. While these are very high positions of service there are also many small ways service can make an impact. Some of the service activities I have been included in are: Singing at a senior center, participating in Girl Scouts, adopting and caring for a humane society dog, donating clothes or toys to goodwill, and biking/walking places to save gas. Service is very important to me because it really helps me visualize the difference you can make by doing several small acts of kindness.

Always, I was told from parents and elders that anyone can achieve their dreams through arduous work and dedication. Surprisingly, I hadn’t pondered this until I observed a shivering homeless person standing at the corner asking for help on one snowy, frosty winter day. This affected my life greatly. On the way, I just started thinking about the life of homeless people and how they are not fortunate enough to get their own place to live, their choice of delicious food to eat and several other amenities that we all enjoy in our everyday lives. An incident, like this, sparked an enthusiastic sense of compassion and empathy in me. Along with my family, I started thinking deeply and my thoughts to help the homeless expanded to other areas and I wanted to start helping the community around me as much as possible.

The situation that brought me from my first internship to the second one was frustrating and difficult. Nonetheless, it provided me with beneficial learning experiences for my career and life in general. One of the silver linings of interning at these two considerably different internship experiences was increasing my knowledge of two different types of business. The first of these areas was in the Non-Profit organization at PACS, where their mission is to empower individuals who are struggling. The nonprofit industry has always deeply interested me, and what I learned at PACS only fueled that interest. The time I spent at PACS was brief and ended abruptly. Nonetheless, I learned valuable and significant information and gained an understanding of the various business characteristics that are essential in nonprofit organizations.

Acts of service always created a desire in me to help make people’s lives better. People often put forth their best when

The main task of my internship was to gain more experience and knowledge of our respective field. Overall, the experience proved to be both enjoyable and rewarding. During this internship I used the skills that I learned from my Medical Assistant class and used them in the real world scenarios at the hospital. Also while I there I was exposed to new experiences. Such as performing Urine test on Drug and alcohol patients. For this procedure I had to stand in the restroom with the patient's and watch them urinate into a cup. I had to stand in the restroom with the patients because in the past they try and cheat the system. For example

Between band practice, studying, and officer meetings, I find time to volunteer. Through my 3 clubs, I have completed over 250 hours of volunteer service. Many of my service hours have come from HOSA, where I can obtain clinical experience through volunteering at nursing homes, health fairs, or hospitals. Volunteering has been extremely important to me, and every experience is special. I can remember vividly my first volunteer experience at a soup kitchen where a man began to sing hymns. It was such a shock to me that I could be as much of a blessing to people. That experience inspired me to continue volunteering throughout high

1) As a Roncalli student, I have been able to participate in many memorable service activities both as an individual and in a large group. From freshman year, I have accumulated the most service during the summer time when I have had the opportunity to be involved coaching youth teams in different sports. This service is the most special to me because it is a way for me to volunteer in activities that I myself love and have a passion for. It has taught me a lot, and I think I have gotten as much out of it as the girls I coach have. Another notable service is the service I was able to participate in with my classmates as a volunteer at Journey Home. This service really opened my eyes to the issues people and families face here in Aberdeen. I was happy that I was able to experience and learn something new while helping a cause and helping people in my own community that I otherwise would have never known about. This year, I was also able to volunteer to be a group leader at a Roncalli Junior High Retreat. When I was younger I always knew it was something I wanted to experience and I loved being there. It was great to meet the younger kids and help them along throughout the day while they experienced a retreat for the first time. I hope to continue these service activities as I get older and move out of my time in high school wherever I end up.

As a student, I have demonstrated many works of service to my community and school. Service opportunities have shaped me into the person I am today and these projects have made me realize how fortunate I am for all that I have. While I've been doing these service projects through the years, it has been a pleasure seeing the joy on the faces of people that aren't as fortunate as I am. Service projects that I have completed include managing the fish booth at the St. Leo's Parish Festival, being an altar server at St. Leo's Parish, helping cook dinner for the Ridgway Fire Department during carnival day setup, participating in the St. Marys Light Up Night by dancing, and Christmas caroling to local residents. I also participated in a zombie/princess

I believe that an internship in either Human Services or Health Sciences will be an an exceptional way to see firsthand what I have been reading in textbooks and discussing in class for the last year. I have always had a particular interest in the clinical side of psychology, so given the choice I would like to shadow a practicing professional rather than spend time "behind the scenes" or in a lab, which in turn will give me hands on experience with patients and a better understanding of psychological disorders and issues. Through such interactions I hope to fully display my communication, analytical, and problem solving skills and eventually put them to the test. I hope to gain not just the experience of the work life, but also I want to learn

Serving not only benefits the recipient, but also the volunteer. One area I feel passionate about is blood donation. It makes me feel satisfied to know that my blood can go to save a stranger's life. Another place I serve in is in my church. I have helped with Vacation Bible School, a mission trip, and cleaning up after events. These projects took a lot of time out of my already busy schedule, but when I look back and see all those who have benefited from my service, I have no regrets.

I have learned the importance of serving others by being a part of the youth group at my church. Every fourth Sunday of the month, my youth group takes snacks to Holston Valley Hospital. We go to most of the

I was raised up believing in the importance of service and community as I saw my family members and neighbors selflessly help and be in community with people in need. It is therefore no surprise that I discovered my passion for service and volunteerism while still young. In my hometown Nairobi, Kenya, I did community service through various ways, including my involvement in the charity walk for Street Children and Orphans in Kenya in 2003 and the 2007 Brookside Freedom from Hunger Campaign. I participated in the charity walk for these causes and helped raise money to support street children, orphans, ending hunger, and was recognized as one of the top three people to raise the most funds. In high school, I volunteered at the St. Nicholas Children's home in Kenya, where I served, played, and was in solidarity with the children. In 2013, I earned the President’s Bronze Standard award given to me by Honorable Mwai Kibaki, the third president of Kenya for being a young person equipped with positive life skills and a change maker in my community, country, and globally.

My desire and passion for helping others is intertwine with my personal and professional life experiences. Growing up in Guatemala, a third world country, helped me become the person I am today. My first twelve years in my native country taught me lessons that changed my perspective and shaped who I am and who I want to be in the future. From a young age, I had this great admiration for nature and in Guatemala I was able to admire it. I remember endless nights looking at the stars and patiently waiting for a shooting star. Nature was my play room. Life in Guatemala was beautiful but it wasn’t easy. It was not until I came to the United States that I begin to realize how much my mother had sheltered me from the violence and poverty that surrounded us. Sadly, my beautiful country is fill with corruption. The rich exploit the poor and laws are created to protect does in power regardless of their wrongdoing. In Guatemala, women are treated unequally because our society has rigid gender roles and has created a culture that takes pride in masculinity and machismo. It was well known in my small village that if a man found a female attractive and wanted her for himself he could “robarte” which translates to “steal you.” My mother and many other women in my family experienced this. My father was a policeman in Guatemala and he was attracted to my mother. My mother, on the other hand, was not looking for any serious relationship because she was only 17 years old. The city closest to