Passion is Community Service by Summer

Passion is Community Service by Summer - January 2017 Scholarship Essay

Gandhi says: "Whatever you do will be insignificant, but it is most important that you do it". Being a leader throughout my community, whether that be in school, Rainbow Girls, Church, or Athletics, is very important to me.

I may not know what I want to do with my life, but I know I will always help others. I was shown at very young age to always help others no matter what. My identity is “Community Service."

At 11 years old, I joined an organization that would introduce me to the one thing my heart truly loved. It all began with my first service project. I was awarded “Miss Service” for my assembly. I am a member of the International Order of the Rainbow for Girls. Rainbow Girls is a service based organization that is broken up into district like groups, which we refer to as “Assemblies”. That meant dedicating a year of my life towards a project I felt was near and dear to my heart. I chose to raise money towards the disease of ALS, since my uncle was diagnosed a couple of years ago. I jumped in head first with my Assembly and raised over $2,000 dollars which went towards the “Catfish Hunter Foundation." The rush was so invigorating for me; it was the spark that had me “hooked” for finding other ways I could get involved in my community.

When I was about 7 years old, I remember going to a high school football game where my uncle coached. As I watched the girls on the side lines of the track with pretty bows in their hair, as well as all the big smiles on their faces…I looked at my mother and said, “I want to be just like them one day." Then, 7th grade rolls around. I try out for my middle school cheer squad and make the team. I knew then…"I have to teach other girls how to cheer and do all the stuff I’m being taught!” Within months, I teamed up with a woman, who helped me organize a cheer leading program at NJAA (Northern Junior Athletic Association) in Durham. Who knew, to this very day I would still be head coach of girls that were just like me at their age…just itching to be the epitome of a “leader." Every basketball season from 2011-2016, I have been in a gym every Wednesday and Friday nights with girls who genuinely look up to me as their role model. I received gifts from homemade cookies, to hand drawn pictures, and if you’re lucky…you get to be their #Womancrushwednesday on Instagram! The pure bliss I get from being with these girls is absolutely endless. I am so fortunate to be given the honorable opportunity to be someone these girls can look up to.

This past summer, I was blessed with the opportunity to travel internationally to Haiti. I was speechless at all that I saw and experienced. I went there with my church for a week. Our project was to build a kitchen that the Haitian people could utilize in Cite Soleil. Despite the heat, and many cans of bug repellent, we managed to construct the beginning phases of the kitchen. I even got to play a heated soccer game and cheer a little with all the Haitian children.

Everything that I have done involving service has been only a tiny piece of the puzzle, but I know that it was most important that I do it and do it from the heart. Maybe one day, ALS will be cured, one day, those girls become Cheerleaders, and one day those Haitians will be given other beneficial opportunities that will help their future despite their realities. Community Service is often thought about you helping others but, in reality… YOU are the one that is being helped. I’m extremely proud to say I identify myself as an individual who TRULY enjoys serving my community. Throughout each of these wonderful experiences, I was inspired to commit my life the helping of other. It has, and always will be a priority of mine.