Fostering Community Impact: My Journey of Dedication and Service by Ashoke

Fostering Community Impact: My Journey of Dedication and Service by Ashoke - January 2024 Scholarship Essay

In my family, we have a strong sense of duty towards helping our community. I have spent a lot of time volunteering in the community throughout my life. I first started helping out at The Muse Knoxville when I was ten years old. Even though Knoxville is a big city, it doesn’t have a big children’s museum. At that time, most of its exhibits were donated from other museums or made by members of the community. Almost all of the renovations and community events were supported by volunteers. I have painted walls, built shelves for their supplies, helped build exhibits and ran science stations at community events. I helped them so much that they actually 3D printed me a volunteer name tag so I wouldn’t have to use the “Hello, my name is” stickers. These experiences had a huge impact on my worldview by fostering a strong desire to keep finding ways to help our community.

In addition to volunteering at Muse Knoxville, I started participating in other service minded organizations like Boy Scouts, Knox County Youth Health Board and my school’s service club. I have volunteered at the FISH Food Pantry, Second Harvest Food Bank, the Salvation Army, the Humane Society of the Tennessee Valley, the YMCA Community Garden, our Veterans Cemetery, MANNA House, Lost Sheep Ministry, and Mobile Meals. In total, I have completed more than 300 Volunteer services hours in the last three years. As a result, I have been awarded two President’s Volunteer Service Awards.

For my Eagle Scout Project, I decided to ask The Muse if they needed help. They had an exhibit that they put outside, but the weather was ruining the exhibit. They needed durable storage devices that would be safe for kids to use and also protect this exhibit from the elements. This was important because this is an expensive exhibit that was purchased with a $40,000 museum grant. I spent a month designing the containers using 3D modeling software and talking with local craftsmen. I had to develop all the plans for what materials we would need and find funding to purchase everything. After that, my scout patrol, under my leadership, built two eight foot by four foot waterproof storage containers. They were painted “Cosmic Blue,” which matched the logo and spirit of the Muse.

This project took a lot of commitment and dedication from everyone involved and taught me a lot about planning and executing a relatively large project. These boxes not only stored and protected the equipment for the exhibit, but also enabled the children to have a larger and more open space to play with the exhibit itself. The Muse’s goal is to teach children through play, so by improving this exhibit, I feel like my work contributed to this organization’s mission, too. I am proud of both this accomplishment and other service projects that I have done.

Being active in my community has helped me build lifelong skills and meet new people. Volunteering has given me the opportunity to build relationships with both the people using the organization, as well as the people that work there. It has also helped me build skills such as teamwork, leadership, communication, and working with younger children. However, the effects of community engagement goes beyond personal development. It helps the well being of the community by bringing people together, encouraging teamwork, helping those in need and it creates a positive atmosphere in our community. This has inspired me to find a future career that will also have a positive impact on whatever community I am a part of.