Service: A Personal Passion by Ciara

Service: A Personal Passion by Ciara - May 2018 Scholarship Essay

As someone who has had my necessities handled by my parents, I admittedly, was very entitled before serving in my community. I carried certain stigmas against people who did not have as much as I did. I judged people whose only option was to go to services like the ones I ended up serving with.
My experience with community service began with my freshman year serving with our HoPe club. I only join to ameliorate my college applications. It was not until I worked on a project at an after-school program for young children whose parents could not afford daycare, that I realized how fulfilling community service was. We did simple tasks; helping kids with homework, reading with them, doing arts and crafts. Initially, it felt like an obligation.
After working with them for a while, I developed real relationships with the kids. I learned their names and personalities. We had small jokes together and I began to respect each of their situations. As a high schooler, the kids looked up to me. One of the girls I helped often was Maria. She was from the Dominican Republic and she lived with her mother and uncle. One day she told me that I was like a sister to her. This touched me because her sisters were in the Dominican Republic and she had only met them once. Maria’s story was very moving to me because I grew up with six other siblings. I can remember when my family was going through difficult times how being with them made everything else seem a little bit easier. Working with kids like Maria opened my eyes to how close every person is. Humanity is so much more connected than everyone thinks and being more than just a member of my family or school has made me impactful in someone else’s family too.
After our HoPe club stopped working with that organization I was more excited to do projects. I always kept volunteering at the community center but my passion for service increased. We did a lot of metro-Atlanta projects and I became the Vice President of Community Service in my senior year. Community service increased my awareness of the issues that affect the people in my very city. It makes almost every subject in school easier to apply; every idea has been applied in the real people I have helped. Community service is why I want to use my degree to better my community. Although community service is no longer a college stipulation, it is now a part of my everyday life.