An Unexpected Change by James

An Unexpected Change by James - May 2018 Scholarship Essay

“You have to be kidding me” were the first words of my high school career. I remember walking into my freshman orientation in the spring of 2013 and being told that I would have to complete a minimum of 100 hours of community service in order to graduate high school. I was so taken back by the proposition of having to complete so many volunteer hours, that I seriously considered going to a different high school. However, after being overruled by my parents, I decided to enroll anyways.
I can remember the entirety of freshman year being summarized by the constant battle between my parents and I over completing my community service hours. My mom kept insisting that I would regret having to complete my hours later on in high school when I was consumed by AP courses and the college process. Looking back on it, my mom’s advice was spot on, but 14 year old me thought he had it all figured out ignored his mom's advice and continued to procrastinate. Instead of spending my free time working towards my 100-hour obligation, I chose to spend my time playing video games with friends and being a lazy teenager. As freshman year passed by, and sophomore year began to appear on the horizon my mom decided it was time for things to change,
Unbeknownst to me, my mom decided to start volunteering my time. Sometimes it would be helping out at a parish BBQ, while other times it would be helping out at the local food bank. No matter what it was I absolutely despised it, and hated every single second of it. At the time, the only thing that got me through my volunteer time was that fact that it was going to allow me to graduate high school. It had been two years, and the program that was supposed to cause me to fall in love with service was completely failing. I was 16 years old, and my mom still had to force me to participate in even the simplest community service hours, but that would soon change.
It was the summer heading into my Junior year of high school, and I was still 75 hours short of the required 100 hours. In order to keep me on track to graduate, my mom signed me up for a service trip to Morganton, NC through my youth group. When my mom broke the news to me that I would be spending a week of my precious summer volunteering in the heat of a North Carolina summer, I thought I was going to die. At the time, this was something straight out of a nightmare for me. In the months leading up to the trip, I can remember using every excuse in the book to try and get out of the trip. However, no matter what I tried nothing worked. When the trip rolled around, I boarded the coach bus to set off on a 16-hour drive to North Carolina with the mindset of Marshawn Lynch, “I’m just here so I don’t get fined”.
When I arrived in NC I was assigned to a group and service sight for the week. It turned out that I was volunteering at a local retirement community that was in desperate need of help preparing for their annual state inspection. At the beginning of the week I hated every single second of the trip, it didn’t even matter if I was volunteering or hanging out after the days work. However, on our third day on sight, the community staff pulled us all aside. They explained to us that the power washing, weeding, and brush cleanup that we were doing was priceless to them. They went on to say that the complex only had three staff members, and that in order to pass the state inspection the place had to be spotless. With only three sets of hands around to clean up the complex and take care of the residents, the staff said that there would be no hope of passing the inspection. They went on to explain that passing the state inspection was what allowed the residents of the community to continue to receive subsidized rent, the key to making the community affordable for many of the residents. This meeting with the staff had a huge impact on me. In the short time, I had spent in the community, I could tell that the residents were like one big family. When this realization finally hit me, I realized the importance of volunteer work and why
I was required to complete so many hours of community service.
This community service opportunity taught me so much about myself, and community service as a whole. I realized that community service was so much more than just giving up your time for a good cause. It offers us the opportunity to make a real difference in the life of another person, and open our eyes to how fortunate many of us truly are. When you confront true need for the first time in your life, and allow yourself to be opened up by it, your truly are changed. I can proudly say it inspired me not only to fulfill the required 100 volunteer hours to graduate, but to complete an additional 80, all while introducing me to a compassionate side of myself that I never knew existed.