Community Involvement by Kyleigh

Community Involvement by Kyleigh - January 2024 Scholarship Essay

Let me explain. I have always given back via community service, namely through 4-H, church, school, and FFA community service activities, and will continue this, whether through collegiate FFA, 4-H or other fraternal organizations. From a young age, as a Clover Bud (under age 9 in New Mexico) member in the 4-H organization, I remember serving others. Our club did food drives for Thanksgiving, we have cleaned up yards for homebound elders, a toy drive for an Angel Tree program (partnered with a Toys for Tots Christmas program for deserving families), and many others. I remember, even at a young age, when we would deliver the bounty we collected, and we stacked it neatly in the local food bank shelves, “where does this go? Who gets all of this stuff?”

Fast forward to a couple of years later, and the way I saw the world, and how I relate to it shifted. My perspective shift began when I met some new friends at the fair showing livestock. These two particular friends I’m referring to, told me they reside at a Children’s Home, and not with their parents. I was vaguely aware of two faith-based Children’s Homes in my small rural town. But as a child, I never truly understood why we needed these homes. My new friends taught me many things (and continue to do so to this day). In my opinion, they are hero’s; they are the success stories. I began to feel and realize how fortunate I was with my life. I have parents who love me and I have a home. The Children’s Homes here are beneficiaries of many community service activities and donations, and I knew that my 4-H Club needed to hold firm to our motto of “making the best better” and quickly added these children, my new friends, on our community service program list.

I held leadership roles in my local FFA and 4-H club and in the overall County Governing Council for 4-H (current President), and now a two-time State Officer (in my last year of service, I am the New Mexico State Vice President). In these roles, I prioritized community service, and always held a special spot for youth residing in Children’s Homes or foster care programs. We have been giving directly to Foster Care Youth, whether it’s tangible donations in the form of clothing, food, panty donations, toys, or even school supplies.

Most recently, as a State Officer, I have been on leadership and planning committees for Community Service at the State Level. After seeing the vast amount of homelessness around our State Fairgrounds, we decided we needed to do something that can help this population, at least a little. I truly cannot comprehend the vast macro drivers that cause this amount of homelessness. It is a very complex problem. How some of this population, some young adults, not much older than I am, live, is heartbreaking, to say the least. The last two years, my officer team in collaboration with our local council, have planned and implemented a state wide give back program that manifests in September. This involves fundraising and gathering toiletries, and other small snacks, and making bags for the homeless shelters in Albuquerque, NM. When we have leadership summit and Youth Get Away (both programs that youth from all over our state attend and our officer team and ambassadors put on leadership and community service sessions), we decided to do this State Wide service project. We donated all the bags we made to the shelter in Albuquerque to provide, what we hope is a glimpse of relief in someone’s day.

It has truly changed my life, being witness to such resiliency and determination that others who are less fortunate, who are faced with food and housing insecurities, and all of the trauma resulting in them having to live outside of their biological family’s care, or in the case of homeless individuals, on the streets in makeshift tent communities. It has given me the gift of recognizing that no matter what is bothering me, no matter what problems I am facing and trying to overcome at that moment, I can think about the struggle that other’s face on a daily basis. And how they face it; with courage, grit, determination, humbleness, resiliency, strength, transparency, kindness, thankfulness, and honesty. It reminds me that people are usually doing the best they can with what they have.

I believe in hard work and setting goals high. I feel that I am approachable, teachable, coachable, can take criticism and feedback and grow from it, and incorporate this into making self-changes for the better. I am pursuing a degree to ultimately go into a Law program. I believe that humans should be afforded basic rights, be able to live somewhere safety, have food to eat, have caring people around them, and most of all, be able to get an education or job training and have a shot of improving their lives with support and safety. Many programs exist who are trying to help less fortunate populations; I have much to learn, but it seems to me that some of these programs work and some do not. I commit myself to improving the lives of others, making policy change where I can, and will ALWAYS advocate for those less fortunate than I, while trying to improve the lives of others.