The La Junta Rotary Club Foundation Scholarship

As surprising as it may sound, I have been doing community service since the sixth grade and it is a new experience each time. It all began with a community clean up known as 'Keep McAllen Beautiful' as we got there everyone seemed excited to be there. It was beautiful to see such unity inside of my community, and I decided from then on that I would like continue helping out where it is needed. As I joined the National Honor Society my chances of providing my services increased, and I decided that I would assume a position of leadership when needed. I became the society's president, which allowed me to develop my time management skills, creativity, and efficiency. I organized an fundraiser for the hurricane Harvey disaster victims where all

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

In this regard, the most important part of service to me personally is giving back to the community. Volunteering is my way of providing service to others, it is not only effective, but it’s a good way to meet people, to learn, and to develop social skills. By helping or supporting others, I learned and used new skills in communicating with people and I have gained confidence in myself through different interactions. Providing aid to a family in need or helping out an elementary teacher is necessary, because as people it should be our natural tendencies to support one another, and bring aid when aid is due. For example, at Seven Lakes High school I created the Girls for Krause Club. It was given the name the Girls for Krause club after the Krause Center; a center in Katy that fosters girls who have been taken out of their homes due to sexual harassment, parental mistreatment or mental issues. My first visit to the Krause Center was with my youth group at church. I was so touched by all the girls at the center, and how open they were about their situation. I remember one of the girls telling me thank you, for treating her like “a regular person.” This interaction gave me the incentive to create the Krause club, because I wanted to allow other girls my age to interact with these girls and bring attention to a center that wasn’t well known in my community. Moreover, creating the Krause club has been rewarding and a way to showcase

I volunteered taking care of children, at a recreation center, where parents couldn’t afford expensive day care. I spent time at feral cat clinics to help reduce the overpopulation of cats. I began volunteering at three square and placing applications to help hospitals and soon plan to spend time with soup kitchens and homeless shelters. Through my community service I learned to communicate better, take on leadership roles and earned life changing opportunities along the way. Through volunteering I grew as a person, I matured, learned responsibility, and realized what I wanted to do with my life.

From day one my mom taught me that you will get more satisfaction giving to and helping others than you ever will by just doing things for yourself. I truly believe this. Volunteering to teach swimming lessons, organizing recycled items, and visiting the nursing home are all things I have been involved in and doing each of those I have learned more and more about how important service is. Just recently my classmates and I helped an elderly woman move all of her belongings out of her home and into the 4H building for an auction. The 4H building is on the fairgrounds where I have volunteered to clean up every spring for the last 3 years. Service is very important but also very rewarding. I look toward to doing more service projects in the

Because of this I am often given the opportunity to give back and to serve others. One of my favorite parts of serving others is spending time with people and forming unique relationships. I have served in many ways through my school such as through key club, through the softball mentoring program, through the J-Term community service, through being a writing tutor for the English department, and through helping at the middle school track meet. I am fortunate to belong to a church that emphasizes serving others. I have been involved in many service projects through our youth program.

From being active in my community I have learned that after giving, you receive the best feeling. My freshman year, my friends and I dressed up like Disney princesses and sang at the Women’s and Children’s Hospital in Columbia, Missouri. I have gone back two more times because I am in love with cheering people up. Since this experience, I have made it a mission to always continue to participate in community service. From meals-on-wheels, to adopt-a-spot trash clean up I am always ready to help out the community.

I have always had an interest in helping others, which led me to join the National Charity League when I was in 7th grade and stayed until I graduated high school. It is a mother/daughter charity organization with that aims to help local philanthropies. Throughout my six years of involvement, I was able to volunteer at 19 different charitable organizations throughout the Coachella Valley. The philanthropies I predominantly worked with were the Coachella Valley Rescue Mission and Gilda’s Club. The Coachella Valley Rescue Mission is a shelter for the homeless and I predominately did two things for them, serving/cooking food and fundraising. Often, when I would serve food to the homeless, they would talk to me about their lives and how they ended

Service to others has always been important to me. I'm a product of Jesuit education going back to high school, so I grew up with an understanding of the value of serving others, and the positive impact it can have on the lives we touch. In my experience, I have always been happiest when I have tended to another's needs ahead of my own. I have no better example of this than in my work with the North Carolina Central University (NCCU) Campus Recreation Program through volunteering.

Serving my community and giving back to others has always been a huge part of my life. From a young age, my parents instilled in me a love of helping those around me and a want to make my community a better place. One of the biggest areas of community service I have been a part of is at my local church and through my high school’s mini cheer camp.

Growing up, my uncle Frank would volunteer at the local soup kitchen every Saturday. At an early age, he started taking me and my cousins along with him to help feed the homeless. One of my earliest memories is actually serving soup to the needy out of that kitchen. I remember seeing how appreciative the majority of them were when we served them food. Being able to count of three meals a day was something I had always taken for granted. The people we helped did not have that luxury. This taught me at an early age

Volunteering to feed the homeless is truly an eye opening experience to what reality is. There is an estimated one hundred million homeless people in the world who are starving and are trying to find a way to survive. On a day-to-day basis, we see homeless people everywhere such as on the streets, by the freeway asking for money so they can feed themselves, or maybe even feed their own family. One day, my mom and I decided we had to take action after witnessing so many homeless people on the streets.When people are in such a difficult situation, their only option is to beg for money because they have no roof over their head, and no food to eat. Many of these people are suffering from their own decisions, unemployment, or for other personal reasons. There are many homeless people who are sick and suffering from severe mental illnesses. It breaks my heart seeing homeless people in the streets, so I knew I had to take action and help out someway. The experience of volunteering to feed the homeless was most certainly a life changing experience. It made me realize how grateful I am for my life, how important it is to help those in great need, and to never take a meal for granted or roof for granted. This event was one that happened in the spur of the moment but has also changed me as a a person by becoming more involved and helping out more in my community , learning to never taking anything for granted, and by not assuming all homeless people are bad people as such.

Service has always been a huge, prevalent part in my life. Growing up, my parents would teach me about helping others, and how that was what life was meant for. When a service trip was proposed by my church, I was at first hesitant to go on it. However, after some persuasion from my parents, I ended up taking the trip to Chicago to help those in need. To this day, I don’t regret the decision.

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 have been volunteering before I was old enough to know I was volunteering. As the youngest of four, I happily came along whenever my parents and siblings volunteered. But, community service is not just something I was taught to do; it is something I love to do. Today, I serve others in ways that are closer to my own heart. Serving people and animals “who don’t have a voice” has been and always will be central to who I am. I spent this summer raising awareness and funds for foster children, and I am excited to use those funds this November to personally decorate and deliver new duffel bags with supplies to foster children in my area. Additionally, I have loved dedicating my time to a local animal rescue where I have participated in animal