Life Changing Volunteer Opportunity by Aleja

Life Changing Volunteer Opportunity by Aleja - January 2017 Scholarship Essay

I'm a member of the TSTM (Tomorrow's Scientists Technicians & Managers) program. This program is designed to prepare middle and high school students for college and expose students to various career paths. Community service is required of each student in the program. Students must accumulate a specified number of points each year to achieve a status of good standing. When I was in middle school, I was given the opportunity to prepare meals for the elderly. Initially, I had no idea what to expect due to it being a new experience for me. The coordinator explained to all of the volunteers that it was very important for us to make our guests feel welcome and special. We were also encouraged to engage in conversation as much as possible. As a fifth grader, I was somewhat shy and struggled with initiating dialogue with others. As it turns out, I had a few guests ask me questions as I gave them their meals. They wanted to know things such as: my age, grade level, future occupation,etc. I became more comfortable as the day went on. I learned so much about them, their families, their younger years, struggles,etc. This experience influenced me in more ways than one. I wanted to learn more about the elderly population as well as participate in more volunteer projects geared towards older adults.

During the summer (2015), I participated in the CREST program at Bradley University. This program allowed me to work closely with the elderly population. My research project was centered on gerontology and nutrition. I thoroughly enjoyed the time I spent with residents and listening to their words of wisdom. It made me appreciate the things that I do have. Many older adults don’t get three meals a day let alone nutritious. This opened my eyes up to the problems within this age group. My mentor and I developed a nutrition song and talked about healthy food choices each time we visited Senior World. I was also able to go with the Meals on Wheels coordinator to deliver meals to seniors. This gave me an opportunity to see what type of support (if any) they had, their living conditions, and learn more about their access to healthy foods. This program serves seniors in various counties and is dedicated to meeting their nutrition needs. I’d like to be more involved with efforts to ensure that older adults receive nutritious meals. I must say that this was a very humbling experience for me and helped me understand how critical it is for older adults to maintain healthy eating habits. I'll continue to seek out opportunities to help the elderly population. In the future I hope to lead volunteer projects specifically for older adults.