Personal Essay

Since the beginning of high school I have been involved in wide range of things but most of all my community.  I started getting involved in my community when I was a freshman in need some funding to go on a band trip with some friends of mine to Hawaii to play for the 70th anniversary of Pearl Harbor.  I came up with a deal with family friends and relatives that for every hour of community service that I'd do I would receive $10 in return.  It took about 8 months but in the end I raised $1000 along with 100 hours of community service.  

With my average grades and being okay in high school athletics, as a sophomore in high school college scholarships weren't in my near future.  I decided to volunteer as many hours as I could in hopes of receiving a scholarship based upon the amount of volunteer hours I put in.  I decided to join 4H late in my sophomore year to pursue more volunteer hours. Immediately I sank my feet in and went straight to work.  That summer I volunteered for a 4h summer camp which was about 2 weeks long 24 hours a day 7 days a week.  After that I began to look for anything to volunteer at whether it was helping to teach classes to elementary kids or dressing up as an otter for the Joshua Collingsworth Foundation.  I did it all.  By the end of my junior year I racked up over 900 hours of community service.  Applying and receiving huge honors such as the 4H National Leadership Award, Presidential Volunteer Service Award, and perhaps being involved in one of the greatest learning experience in my life Boys State.

My senior year I had a new goal in mind that still included volunteer service.  I wanted to receive the Diamond Clover Award, which is the highest award you could possibly receive in 4H.  Not very many people get it, since 4H was established in Lancaster County which has been around 80 years only a couple of guys have received it.  For my project I decided to build a Little Free Library which is like an over sized bird house filled with books that is outside.  I had the idea of placing it at a retirement facility and incorporating a daycare down the street to interact with the elderly while reading books.  In order for this to happen I had to arrange several meetings with the retirement facility Homes Lake Rehabilitation Center and the daycare Krayon Campus.  Long story short after about a year it all came together and their now sits a Little Free Library under the gazebo at the Holmes Lake Rehabilitation Center.  As for my Diamond Clover I had to type two seven page papers one on before the project and the other based upon after the project.  I eventually received the award and after about a year of work on it I was incredibly happy to be finished with it.

The most important thing that I have receiced from all of this, is not the awards or trips but honestly what I have learned through volunteering for my community.  It reminds me how fortunate I am and the high after helping someone in need is like no other.  The skills that I have attained through volunteering will forever remain with me in whatever I plan to do in life.