the prompt is "how will your presence enrich our community?"
While most families pass down stories or cherished heirlooms to their children, my family has passed down a tradition of helping people with cognitive disabilities. Once I turned sixteen, I began to work at a Chicago Park District summer camp for people with cognitive disabilities. At first, this task seemed extremely difficult. Leading six preteens in sports, arts and crafts, swimming, and other activities for six hours a day, five days a week? These kids' parents had years to figure out how to keep their children happy; I had only a few days.
Despite this hesitation, I quickly learned to use my campers' interests to make the whole day interesting and fun. From Justin's passion for the Cubs to Matthew's adoration of Sherlock Holmes, my campers made me work to think of fun activities, like wiffleball World Series games and detective cases through the "back alleys of London." Swimming was the one activity everyone looked forward to each day. I would spend the whole time with one of my campers hunting an imaginary "shark" in the deep end. The creativity required each day pushed my imagination to places I never thought it could, which made getting up at 7 in the morning in the summer more than bearable.
Even though I was having fun working, I had to learn how to handle many difficult situations, like keeping my kids together on field trips, the occasional temper tantrum over what was for lunch, and frequent bouts of homesickness. These experiences, though stressful, made me appreciate how truly strong these campers' parents are, because I know that they have to overcome these obstacles on a daily basis. This empathy has helped me understand how people are thinking and feeling in other aspects of my life, like school or sports.
I could say that this experience taught me time management skills, effective communication, and proper occupational etiquette, but despite the accuracy of that statement and importance of those lessons, they were not the most vital things camp taught me. I learned that acting like a child is not always bad, that playing in a sandbox for an hour can be the best stress-reducer out there, and that I have more fun catching "bank robbers" in a park than I could ever have in front of a television or computer screen. I learned to never judge people by what they look like or the disability they have, because the kids at camp are some of the most caring and accepting people I have ever met. They never judge anyone by the way they look or act; if everyone was as accepting as my campers are, the world would be a much more tolerant place. By far the largest impact this camp had on me was to show me how truly happy helping others makes me. By the end of the summer, my paychecks were taking a backseat to the smiles on my campers' faces. I believe with this understanding and appreciation of the way others think and feel, I can add to the diversity of the UWM student body and prove myself as a great asset to the university.
While most families pass down stories or cherished heirlooms to their children, my family has passed down a tradition of helping people with cognitive disabilities. Once I turned sixteen, I began to work at a Chicago Park District summer camp for people with cognitive disabilities. At first, this task seemed extremely difficult. Leading six preteens in sports, arts and crafts, swimming, and other activities for six hours a day, five days a week? These kids' parents had years to figure out how to keep their children happy; I had only a few days.
Despite this hesitation, I quickly learned to use my campers' interests to make the whole day interesting and fun. From Justin's passion for the Cubs to Matthew's adoration of Sherlock Holmes, my campers made me work to think of fun activities, like wiffleball World Series games and detective cases through the "back alleys of London." Swimming was the one activity everyone looked forward to each day. I would spend the whole time with one of my campers hunting an imaginary "shark" in the deep end. The creativity required each day pushed my imagination to places I never thought it could, which made getting up at 7 in the morning in the summer more than bearable.
Even though I was having fun working, I had to learn how to handle many difficult situations, like keeping my kids together on field trips, the occasional temper tantrum over what was for lunch, and frequent bouts of homesickness. These experiences, though stressful, made me appreciate how truly strong these campers' parents are, because I know that they have to overcome these obstacles on a daily basis. This empathy has helped me understand how people are thinking and feeling in other aspects of my life, like school or sports.
I could say that this experience taught me time management skills, effective communication, and proper occupational etiquette, but despite the accuracy of that statement and importance of those lessons, they were not the most vital things camp taught me. I learned that acting like a child is not always bad, that playing in a sandbox for an hour can be the best stress-reducer out there, and that I have more fun catching "bank robbers" in a park than I could ever have in front of a television or computer screen. I learned to never judge people by what they look like or the disability they have, because the kids at camp are some of the most caring and accepting people I have ever met. They never judge anyone by the way they look or act; if everyone was as accepting as my campers are, the world would be a much more tolerant place. By far the largest impact this camp had on me was to show me how truly happy helping others makes me. By the end of the summer, my paychecks were taking a backseat to the smiles on my campers' faces. I believe with this understanding and appreciation of the way others think and feel, I can add to the diversity of the UWM student body and prove myself as a great asset to the university.