A Boomerang Bag Community by Alexandra

A Boomerang Bag Community by Alexandra - December 2019 Scholarship Essay

My ability to persevere and motivate myself through hard times has provided me a certain level of individualism and personal interest. To elaborate, I discovered my passion for science and ecology around my sophomore year. I had happened upon a classroom by accident one day during a free period. The teacher had swept me in and suddenly I was a full-fledged ecology member. By the time I was a junior, I found myself raising awareness for sustainability and showing people that there are ways to fix how we as humans have damaged the earth. My passion for this can be most clearly reflected in my work as a member of the ecology club and GEAC (Global Education Achievement Certificate). Both of these clubs involve a level of global awareness and creating some kind of change in the community.
A project I spent most of my time in high school planning and contributing to was the boomerang bag project. Along with a fellow classmate, I set up a fabric drive and sent out fliers highlighting the need for less single-use plastic waste in our community. We received hundreds of donations in not only fabric but ironing boards as well. We then organized a 4-hour sewing bee at our school that was open for everyone to come and learn how to sew reusable bags. The turnout and feedback we received were amazing! Members of the community gathered and taught others to sew, iron, and pin these bags. There was a job for everyone. Not only were we helping the environment and community, but also creating a place for people to gather and meet each other. I even rediscovered my love for sewing and am now an avid sewer in my free time. This idea sparked a much-needed conversation within my school and city and a year later, we are still holding these sewing bees and adding to the number of community members who use reusable bags.
The reusable bag project was my greatest achievement in high school and remains one of my main focuses as an individual. While our small community was a great start, I hope to expand this to neighboring communities as well. This achievement helps to display how as a member of a community, I find myself responsible for the issues that we may cause and I believe there is always a way to solve a problem. I want to carry my love for the environment with me as I head off to college and perhaps even transform another community into a reusable-bag-only place. This project is a great representation of who I am as a person because it shows how I am willing to actively work to make everything around me better including myself. I refuse to settle for something that I do not believe is good enough and I am always willing to put in the effort required to make a change. Overall, I would describe myself as an activist but most of all a visionary, a student who has plans beyond myself and passion that is unmatched. It is because of this that I believe I have the ability to be apart of a higher-level academic program that challenges me to both embrace and rise above failure.