Accomplishing Community Awareness by Asha

Accomplishing Community Awareness by Asha - December 2016 Scholarship Essay

Cindy Clark, District Homeless Coordinator of Orangeburg Consolidated School District Five, is a humble spirit who takes pride in everything she does. She is extremely passionate about recruiting community support to help the students and families in our district. When we were informed that Mrs. Clark has been diagnosed with colorectal cancer, we felt as a health based school that we should encourage community support for her during this difficult time. As a result, the Health Occupation Students of America (HOSA) chapter at The High School for Health Professions in Orangeburg, SC hosted a 5k run to help support Mrs. Clark. As a sophomore, I was amongst this prestigious group of students and helped raise a generous portion of money to help support Mrs. Clark and increase community awareness about colorectal cancer. Hosting this run helped me make a tremendous difference in my school and community, and the run went extremely better than planned.
The idea for the run derived from seeing how hard Mrs. Clark works. Mrs. Clark came to work every day with a smile on her face even though some days she was in excruciating pain from her illness. As the homeless coordinator, she always was always hosting events to help give to her students, so we believed that it was time to give back to her. To see the smile on her face when she saw how the run turned out was rewarding. This run made a positive difference in our school, encouraging the students to come out to the event.
After the run, all proceeds were donated to the H. Filmore Mabry Center for Cancer Care at the Regional Medical Center. Currently, I am a volunteer at the Mabry Cancer Center and this derived from the run I helped contribute to. In March, our HOSA chapter took this idea farther. Myself along with two other students went to the HOSA Conference in Charleston, SC and presented our run in the category of Community Awareness. We placed fourth and missed nationals by only one point. Even though we did not go to nationals, I strongly believe that our idea was extremely valuable and raised awareness. Participating in this run has helped shape me into who I want to be in the future. A Run for Cindy raised awareness for colorectal cancer and made a difference in my school and HOSA chapter that we will never forget.