Selfish to Selfless: My Favorite Community Service Experience by Kaitlyn

Selfish to Selfless: My Favorite Community Service Experience by Kaitlyn - May 2018 Scholarship Essay

All throughout my life, my family has taught me to give to the less fortunate. As a kid and a teen tight on money, however, there was only so much money I could give to charity organizations. I recall a time as a young child, probably around 4, when I first started donating some of my toys or clothes I was outgrowing to children in need. We volunteered at the local food pantry and every christmas my family would adopt a less fortunate family to buy gifts for. As I got older though, I realized how important it is to volunteer in my local community. I realized that it didn’t always have to be money or goods, but it could be knowledge and concepts that I knew well enough to teach.

At the end of my junior year in high school, I started on a journey that changed my life. I became a certified yoga instructor and began teaching at my yoga studio. I loved being able to share this wonderful practice with other people, and still do. If I had the tools that yoga has given me when I was younger, I would have had a much healthier childhood. This being said, I thought it would be a really good idea to share the practice with some children. I got in touch with the principal the the psychologist at my district’s elementary school and they invited me in to work with them. And so it began.

I went to the elementary school and taught these children twice a week for about an hour at a time. I specifically worked with special needs children and kids with ADHD and aspergers. I worked with them, teaching yoga and mindfulness techniques, as well as other coping skills to deal with negative emotions. This was a very powerful experience for me. I was able to see these children grow as individuals and develop healthy ways to deal with their everyday stressors.

I loved being able to donate my time and skills to these kids. If they remember just one of the skills we learned in our many months together, they could better their entire life. This experience proved to me that there is no “right way” to volunteer. You do what you can, donate what you have. Even if it is impossible for you to donate money or goods, you can always donate time. Just two hours a week and I was able to make a difference in these children’s lives, providing them with skills they will be able to use for the rest of their lives.

To me, volunteering and community service is a necessity. I am so fortunate to have a roof over my head, food in my belly, and clothes to keep me warm. If everybody gave back a little bit, even just donating a couple minutes with local children to better their lives; the world and the next generation would be so much better off. It is time to stop doing selfish things, and start doing something selfless each day. That is how we make the world a better place.