Community Service Is Much More than Simply Serving by Emily

Community Service Is Much More than Simply Serving by Emily - August 2021 Scholarship Essay

One way I am involved in my community is by being a leader in a youth group program called Elevate. Affiliated through the school I go to, the leaders consist of teachers, parents of the children that go to my school, and other high-schoolers in the 12th and 11th grades. I help to coordinate it every Friday by serving on the worship team, assisting the tech team, and serving as a small group leader for a group of sixth-grade girls. I work alongside another parent volunteer, and we work together to create an inviting environment where the students feel comfortable, accepted, and at ease. We want them to feel safe and not judged, where they can say anything on their mind, and trust it will not be used against them or held against them.

Another way I have served my community is by helping my church with a summer camp they do each year. I translate during the lessons, the children's program, and during free time for those who need it, so monolingual visitors could interact with the members of my church. I have been involved in the planning of the church camp these past couple of years, which includes coming up with different lesson ideas for the kids, putting together the booklets for everyone that was scheduled to attend, and designing the camp t-shirt for that year. I was also in charge of finding lodging for the guests that flew into Albania from America to help.

This past fall, I was able to attend the Association of Christian Schools International (ACSI) Student Leadership Conference in Europe. I had the privilege of being a small group leader to about 8-9 girls, and I got to lead them in deep discussions, ask thought-provoking questions, and challenge them to look inwards at themselves. I took a week-long training course before the conference in order to know how best to lead these girls, and while it was extensive at times, it greatly improved my impact on these girls.
This all is a lot of work, and requires time and effort from me, so why am I doing it? For one, these are great communities to be a part of. I both give and receive meaningful lessons, and the small group times are a wonderful opportunity for me to learn and grow in myself. There are a lot of people I can get to know better including students, parents, teachers, church members, family members, and friends of church members, as well as meet young students from all over Europe and Asia. I can impact the lives of everyone that I meet for the better, and whether it be a small or big impact, it is an impact nonetheless. I have been blessed to be able to participate in such amazing programs, and I hope I can continue to be involved with many other things like these in the future.

My schedule this year turned out to be less rigorous than the previous years, and I wanted to fill that free time with something meaningful. So I thought why not use it to impact the many communities I am a part of for the better? I wanted to do something productive for my community. Last year I had listened to a classmate of mine talk about how she loved being a part of the youth group for the middle school community and all they did for the kids there. I realized that I wanted to be a part of it, I wanted to get in there, get to know all of them, and be there for them as they discover who they are, and who they are in Christ.

Overall, I have been blessed to be able to participate in such amazing programs, and I hope I can continue to be involved with many other things like these in the future.