From a Candle to a Bonfire by Chloe

From a Candle to a Bonfire by Chloe - December 2019 Scholarship Essay

Throughout my life, I've always had a passion for volunteering, but it wasn't until I joined Interact Club that it reignited that part of myself: from a tiny candle to a large bonfire.

Interact Club is a service-based club at my school that is student-led, and I just so happen to be the Vice President. I've been involved in Interact Club since the 10th grade, and let me just say that joining was one of the most rewarding $15 I've ever spent (for the club fees of course). My classmates and I planned and executed several service projects for the local community that has heavily impacted my perspective on the world. We've done projects like picking up trash on the roadside (and finding a super cool vintage newspaper box while we were there), playing bingo with the elderly, supporting families of children with cancer, feeding impoverished families, organizing charity warehouses, and so much more. Seeing the way other people charge through their lives courageously no matter their external circumstances is truly astonishing and has opened my eyes to a new side of empathy I could never have seen with my rose-colored glasses of selfishness.

The most memorable thing about Interact Club is a week-long summer camp that taught us about leadership. The class that struck me the most was led by a group of college students that encouraged us to lead our own projects head-first. We did an exercise that inspired us to think out of the box on ways that could help people, charities, and animals in need. To be honest, I was pretty proud of myself for coming up with this one project that planned to build tiny houses for low-income families. I was able to plan things down to the specifics: trash pick-up services, employing the unemployed to build the homes, and furnishing options. Planning things to the specifics set my heart aflame, giving me a volunteering high and inspiration to spring myself into my position as Vice President of the club.

Interact Club has allowed me to expand my worldview and light my fire of passion for serving my community that will carry on into my adult life and beyond, and allow me to hopefully pass it on to my loved ones. The world can only be a better place if we make it one, and it takes one person at a time to do so.