Bringing Environmentalism to the Streets of Paradise by Seyna

Bringing Environmentalism to the Streets of Paradise by Seyna - December 2016 Scholarship Essay

As a member of the Amnesty International Club at my high school last year, I was one of the two only members of the Environmental Committee. One day, while trying to figure out ways to make an impact in our community, I was asked for an idea. I blurted out the first thing that came to mind: a Documentary Night, similar to a movie night but it would make a bigger impact for our group. It was unanimously seen as a great idea and I became the spokesperson and lead organizer for the project.
I thought that maybe more people would show up if we offered snacks, but that also meant that enough people needed to show up that we could pay back whoever bought the food. Getting people to show up became the biggest issue. I offered up the idea of making it a "BYOC" event (Bring Your Own Cozy) in order to make it more fun. This attracted a few people when we asked around but not nearly enough. Like any other high school event committee we tried to put up a poster but were told that we couldn't, the same happened when we asked about showing the documentary trailer during lunch periods. With the event so close to finals week, the team was getting jittery.
The people in charge of getting the word out were only myself and one other girl. She was out of ideas, so it was up to me. I had the idea to ask the science teachers if they would be willing to offer any extra credit to people who attended the Documentary Night, as the documentary was about saving animals. They thought it was a good idea and after a little bit of negotiating, they offered some points extra credit to students who attended. The girl who was working with me thought that it was a terrible idea and almost convinced me that it wouldn't make a difference to the outcome but I refused to listen. It was my line of thinking that any student would pay the one dollar entrance fee and sit through a moving documentary for any extra credit in the last month before finals, I knew I would.
The morning of the event we put together 25 goody-bags, as we were sure only that many would show up. However, that afternoon, when we opened the doors to the English classroom we were showing it in, our mouths fell open at the huge crowd waiting there. After counting all of the proceeds, we discovered that over 70 people showed up. I remember crying, thinking that all of the stress of putting the event together was completely worth it if seventy people left with a new found knowledge of what was going on in the world.
I had also passed around a pledge at the beginning of the event after giving an informative presentation about the issues it addressed, which nearly every person signed and agreed to. The pledge said that the person signing would do any of the dozens of suggested daily or weekly actions that would conserve gallons of water in their homes, and help assist the efforts of water conservationists and environmentalists, like myself. An overwhelming pride filled me that afternoon, and it showed me that I can be a leader and make an impact on the issues I am passionate about, especially the environmentalist issues that I want to assist throughout my life, made possible only by the college education I so need. I now work towards that everyday, I have become the President of the Amnesty International Club and am working on starting an Environmental Science Club as well.