The Biggest Contribution To My Community by Ransom

The Biggest Contribution To My Community by Ransom - January 2024 Scholarship Essay

For as long as I can remember, I’ve been interested in public service. My dad has been a cop for over twenty-five years, and my mom has been a dispatcher for about as long. Due to their professions, I’d often hear stories about what happens in their line of work. Years of listening in on these conversations led to me forming a fascination with law enforcement and safety. As I got older, opportunities to volunteer in this field became more abundant.
In the summer before my senior year, I got an incredible opportunity to assist at a week-long day camp for young children. In a community where many children rely on traveling by foot to get to school, teaching kids how to be safe when they get separated from their parents is very important. For five hours a day, I helped show kids how to recognize the difference between good and bad people, and how to react when a bad person approaches them in public. They were taught self defense tactics that would be realistic for people of their size and how to get away from a dangerous situation. My job involved keeping track of the kids, helping them learn the activities, cleaning, setting up for the day, and working with the kids on their day to day activities.
My experience was highly rewarding. The program reaches out to hundreds of kids over the summer, and provides beneficial information for kids growing up in a town where violent crime is frequent in comparison to other towns of similar size. I still see some kids who participated in the program, exercising safety in public environments. I feel accomplished knowing that the lessons I helped teach those kids will keep them safe for as long as they remember their time at the camp. Thank you for considering my application for your scholarship.