Paying It Forward by Justin

Paying It Forward by Justin - March 2014 Scholarship Essay

Paying it forward is defined as an expression for describing the beneficiary of a good deed repaying it to others instead of to the original benefactor. To me doing any good or random acts of kindness is the definition of this phrase. In school we are told that we have to meet the requirements of having 75 student service learning hours (aka 75 hours of paying it forward). Over the past 6 or 7 years I have taken the idea of helping others and expanded it into close to 700 hours of student service learning hours.

I started out like every other student out there; I was only trying to meet the required number of hours and fill out the paperwork. In order to meet this requirement I got a volunteer job at Oak Crest Retirement Village. I worked here for long enough to meet the hours needed, but I fell in love with my job helping out the residents with dementia. As a result I stayed for year and half. This was just the start of involving myself into my community. I moved onto other ways to pay it forward. I became very active in scouting and received hundreds of hours of service through the work our troop did to help out the community and those in need. I also became more active in my church in order to reach out to my community even further.

As students we are given 7 years to complete 75 hours of community service. I made it my goal to reach at least 100 per year. In saying that though it is amazing to think how much community service gets accomplished when you think of how many students there are and that each accomplishes 75 hours of paying it forward. Including those 75 hours of requirements for students is a great way to get people to contribute even more. I have heard other stories like my own of people who fell in love with paying it forward and seek to do more.

In 8th grade I received an award in the final ceremony along with a fellow scout for completing the most hours out of any other students. This was an honor to receive because I knew I wasn't getting an award for straight A’s or other such recognition. Although I am a good student it was inspirational to see that I could be recognized for academic success that I carried out in environments other than just school. After I earned that award I realized that paying it forward is what I wanted to do with my time. I would remain persistent in my studies while serving my community simultaneously.

The impact that community service has brought to me is like the difference between day and night. The difference I see that is possible through a little time and hard work is truly something of which I can be proud. I support all others that help to pay it forward because it only takes one moment to make someone want to commit themselves to serving their community. I have and will continue to dedicate hours in hopes that it will make a difference and that maybe I will inspire someone else to want to do the same.

There is no way I would have had the resources to do all of my contribution if it were not for the help of my church, school, and scouting. I have learned many things in my time of service. I have learned patience, hard work, dedication, time management, and how to be supportive. On a more literal side I have picked up many valuable skills including public speaking, construction elements, event organization, the art of advocating, and helping the less fortunate.

Student service leaning hours are my greatest academic achievement because to me, hundreds of hours of helping others is way more valuable than a grade. I like to tell my tale of my community service hours not as a way of bragging but in hopes that someone will see that I am in fact trying to inspire others to do the same and pay it forward for the good of others. Words cannot describe every impact that has been bestowed upon me through my contributions other than life changing. So my advice is go out and find out what type of impact it has on you.