The C.A.R.E. Course by Benjamin

The C.A.R.E. Course by Benjamin - January 2023 Scholarship Essay

Service learning should be a required course at the high school and college level. My religion, Judaism, promotes community engagement through the concept of tikkun olam (“repair of the world”). I take this responsibility seriously, which is why I devote time to extracurricular and volunteer activities that try to improve my school and hometown. Yet there is a much more personal reason why I focus on one type of community work in particular.

When I was about to enter seventh grade, my Aunt Melissa was diagnosed with terminal brain and lung cancer. Since then, I have been committed to the fight against cancer. I am proud to lead two organizations that have raised thousands of dollars for cancer research and patient support. The experience of fundraising during a global pandemic taught me many valuable lessons about leadership. More importantly, it also taught me that effective community engagement requires true passion for a cause.

However, community engagement can’t be effective without also being ethical. To me, that means that the organization and its members must be fair, inclusive, respectful, and transparent to everyone involved, both to other members and to the people they serve. People and organizations that are biased, exclusive, disrespectful, or secretive will just perpetuate the injustices that they are supposedly trying to fix. In other words, to paraphrase a famous quote, they are a part of the problem instead of being a part of the solution. I want to be a part of the solution, which is why I participate in service projects and why I believe that other students should as well.

To be more specific, the course would be called “C.A.R.E. (Community, Accessibility, Responsibility, and Equity).” The course description would say the following: “C.A.R.E. promotes active and hands-on engagement both on campus and in the community in a way that is tailored to the interests of each student. This course is individualized by school and focuses on how a chosen field of study can benefit the common good. For example, accounting majors could help prepare tax returns for low-income families, computer science majors could mentor a robotics team at a local high school, and government majors could lead “get out the vote” efforts among underrepresented populations. After taking this course, students should understand the importance of prioritizing community service throughout their lives.”

Thank you for considering me for this scholarship program so I can continue developing as a student, leader, and citizen.