From my travels to undeveloped third world countries and Europe, I have learned much about contribution and diversity. I have brought this knowledge home and used the inspiration to participate in service to the youth and underprivileged in my local communities.
From my travels to undeveloped third world countries, I have learned much about contribution and diversity. I have brought this knowledge home and used the inspiration to participate in service to the youth and underprivileged in my local communities.
During three weeks traveling with my family through Tanzania's orphanages, schools and cities, I saw poverty on an appalling level. The lack of possessions, and even of hope, is overwhelmingly poignant. The children at the orphanages sleep on dirt floors, under leaking ceilings, with no source of clean water. The schools are without basic supplies; pencils are so scarce that they are broken in half so two students can write. As a family, we brought toys and clothes to the orphanages and pencils, paper and books to the schools.
Presented with this striking view of adversity, I was motivated to participate in my community's outreach program to poor families in Tijuana, Mexico. As part of a group that traveled across the border by bus, we built houses for families who lived in hovels built by cardboard and debris. The exchange of house keys from our community to the trembling hands of a family with their first solid roof is a memory that will stay with me forever.
The compassion I felt for the poverty-stricken youth in Africa and Mexico has inspired me to assist underprivileged youth in the neglected neighborhoods surrounding my community. I began volunteering with the Oakland Royals, a youth baseball team created to influence the youth of the notorious Ghost Town neighborhood to escape the cycle of drugs and violence. To buy team equipment, I started a recycling program by mobilizing members of my community and organizing a pick up routine.
My efforts with the Royals led to my creation of Kappa, a non-profit service club chartered through my school and designed to raise money and recruit volunteers for the Royals program. In addition, as Fundraising Chair of the Key Club, a national service organization with a chapter at my school, I instituted a program of weekly barbeques where we purchase, cook and sell food, the proceeds of which go to the Royals program. Beyond fundraising, I spend hours on the field with the kids, where I provide encouragement, discipline and support through the teaching of baseball fundamentals. In turn, my involvement with the program has pushed me out of my comfort zone and given me lessons in gratitude, privilege and opportunity.
Closer to home, I was selected after an interview process to be part of the Senior Peer Advisor program at my school. The program, supervised by the School Wellness Center, focuses on the educating of freshmen and sophomores in the handling of the pressures of high school social life, peer awareness and avoidance of drug and alcohol abuse.
For my city's recreation program, I have volunteered as a youth soccer coach regularly for the last eight years and as a youth basketball coach for the last three years. At camps comprised of kids ages four to nine, I serve as a role model and coach.
The experience and reward I have attained through work with the underprivileged and with youth in my community will allow me to contribute similarly to youth programs in the Boulder community.
From my travels to undeveloped third world countries, I have learned much about contribution and diversity. I have brought this knowledge home and used the inspiration to participate in service to the youth and underprivileged in my local communities.
During three weeks traveling with my family through Tanzania's orphanages, schools and cities, I saw poverty on an appalling level. The lack of possessions, and even of hope, is overwhelmingly poignant. The children at the orphanages sleep on dirt floors, under leaking ceilings, with no source of clean water. The schools are without basic supplies; pencils are so scarce that they are broken in half so two students can write. As a family, we brought toys and clothes to the orphanages and pencils, paper and books to the schools.
Presented with this striking view of adversity, I was motivated to participate in my community's outreach program to poor families in Tijuana, Mexico. As part of a group that traveled across the border by bus, we built houses for families who lived in hovels built by cardboard and debris. The exchange of house keys from our community to the trembling hands of a family with their first solid roof is a memory that will stay with me forever.
The compassion I felt for the poverty-stricken youth in Africa and Mexico has inspired me to assist underprivileged youth in the neglected neighborhoods surrounding my community. I began volunteering with the Oakland Royals, a youth baseball team created to influence the youth of the notorious Ghost Town neighborhood to escape the cycle of drugs and violence. To buy team equipment, I started a recycling program by mobilizing members of my community and organizing a pick up routine.
My efforts with the Royals led to my creation of Kappa, a non-profit service club chartered through my school and designed to raise money and recruit volunteers for the Royals program. In addition, as Fundraising Chair of the Key Club, a national service organization with a chapter at my school, I instituted a program of weekly barbeques where we purchase, cook and sell food, the proceeds of which go to the Royals program. Beyond fundraising, I spend hours on the field with the kids, where I provide encouragement, discipline and support through the teaching of baseball fundamentals. In turn, my involvement with the program has pushed me out of my comfort zone and given me lessons in gratitude, privilege and opportunity.
Closer to home, I was selected after an interview process to be part of the Senior Peer Advisor program at my school. The program, supervised by the School Wellness Center, focuses on the educating of freshmen and sophomores in the handling of the pressures of high school social life, peer awareness and avoidance of drug and alcohol abuse.
For my city's recreation program, I have volunteered as a youth soccer coach regularly for the last eight years and as a youth basketball coach for the last three years. At camps comprised of kids ages four to nine, I serve as a role model and coach.
The experience and reward I have attained through work with the underprivileged and with youth in my community will allow me to contribute similarly to youth programs in the Boulder community.
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