A Simple Smile by Gianna

A Simple Smile by Gianna - January 2024 Scholarship Essay

“Smiles are contagious”, this famous phrase has always brought me comfort. I love talking to people, meeting new people and learning about the amazing and unique individuals all around me. I founded the project, CommunitySmiles, to foster a movement in my community towards inclusivity and companionship. My dedication towards this movement has been my largest impact on my community, however I hope it will explode far beyond my single sphere of influence. The mission statement for CommunitySmiles is as follows: Our intention is to jumpstart a new sense of kinship in our community through many random acts of kindness to any individual in need. The idea for this project started here in the Coachella Valley, at the Palm Desert Public Library with a local veteran. The kind individual, Mr. Eberhardt, was at the library the day I was studying to turn in my IB History chart. As the Spirit Senator of our LQHS ASB, I was well aware of our annual upcoming event to host a lunch for our local veterans. I overheard two individuals talking and heard them mention meeting each other in the military. I approached them in a simple effort of inviting them to our veteran lunch. Thankfully, the day of the event I was able to revisit Mr. Eberhardt who was extremely generous in gifting me a Thank-You card. Enclosed he wrote "For your kindness", and left a generous sum of money. This heavily impacted me as I realized, such a small action of extending an invitation was able to significantly and positively affect someone in my own community. Therefore, I decided I wanted to begin an effective movement of positive relations in our community, by taking as many opportunities to present a kind and outreaching action. A special thank you to Mr. Eberhardt as his donation has began the funding for this project.
The smiles movement has been created through a series of small events tied back into a “pay it forward” approach. Amazing people, such as local athletic coaches, lyft drivers, cashiers, teachers, students, book-lovers, and coffee enthusiasts are what have allowed the sense of real-time community to flourish in the Coachella Valley. Allow me to highlight some of the beautiful people contributing to the movement.
Mrs. Pamela - I met my neighbor, Mrs. Pamela on the Lyft app when I needed a ride home from work. As she was dropping me off we discovered that we were actually neighbors, living in the same community. Mrs. Pamela explained to me that she has been offering rides in order to receive some human interaction with the recent death of her son. I decided to pay her a visit a week later, dropping off flowers and a card, for her kindness. Mrs. Pamela is a prime example of the impact positivity can have so close to home. She offered free rides whenever I needed them, and in return we have been able to chat and keep each other updated on our lives. She was very thankful for the opportunity to confide in a friend, and is actively reaching back out in our community.
Citrus Valley Coach - During my travel invitational meets, I noticed that I connected with so many unique and amazing individuals. This man was the assistant coach for the Citrus Valley Blackhawks. As I was warming up on the hurdles, he kindly approached me to help me improve my form. After talking, I decided to interview him with my mini-microphone from my tiktok page. Receiving over a million likes, I enjoyed doing these little interviews, as I felt the world got to see examples of how far kindness can impact other people. Our interactions through our interviews spread positivity and promoted the values of the CommunitySmiles project- to get to know your community!
Perhaps my favorite extension of my project has been my experience working as a barista at Dutch Bros Coffee company. During my shifts I have the greatest outreach to my community due to the nature of interacting with hundreds of amazing humans in my community every hour. My two favorite positions, “window” and “linebuster” have given me the opportunity to get to know the stories of thousands of people within the Coachella Valley. For example, I have been slowly learning how to speak spanish in order to take the orders of customers who have difficulty speaking in english. One of my personal favorite customers, Ms. Annita primarily speaks spanish. She has a radiant smiles and always orders a large, hot, sugar-free, annihilator, half sweet. She has inspired me to connect with community in the city of Indio, and to learn more about the spanish language/culture.
Collectively, through this project I have embraced the diverse cultures of my community and met inspiring new people. The project of CommunitySmiles started from a wish of mine to bring the Coachella Valley together, and had blossomed into an intricate network of little kind actions being paid forward. Now more than ever, community, humanity, and kinship are tested by the growth of technology’s influence isolating individuals. Human connection is unique and irreplaceable, which is why I promote our CommunitySmiles project for my community in the Coachella Valley, and abroad. Each little interaction, gift, helping hand, and every smile has been my greatest contribution to my community.