Changing Myself and the Lives Around Me by Margaret

Changing Myself and the Lives Around Me by Margaret - November 2016 Scholarship Essay

My junior year of high school, I was lucky enough to be a Counselor in Training at Camp Joy, a summer camp that works with kids who come from low income situations, or the agency side, and also helps kids who have certain medical diseases, or the medical side. I loved my fellow CIT’s dearly, and it was amazing to get to work with such a diverse group of people. I was assigned to work with the agency side of camp, and was blessed with 12 girls who were absolute angels. However, on the outside they may have seemed perfect, but on the inside, I could tell that a lot of them were hurting. Throughout the week, I talked to them about their home life, and their stories made my heart ache. I then made it my mission to provide the best camp experience that I could. Through my previous experiences, I was able to not only provide these girls with a fun week of camp, but also mentor them to make good choices and to change their lives for the better. It was through my CIT experience that I learned what I wanted to do in life: help children break through the adversity that they were told they could never overcome.
In college, I want to make it a priority to start changing the lives of many kids in the inner city, but I can’t jump in right in to solving the problem of undeserved youth because I still have a lot to learn. Similar to camp, I believe college could help me meet a group of diverse people who could help me make my dream a reality. I want college to help me discover what is out there, and what better way than to engage myself in diversity that many universities have to offer. I want to learn all I can from others, so when I do graduate I will have so many different ideas to help these kids, because solving the issue of underserved youth isn’t something I can solve on my own. I have to be able to learn and accept help from others, which is something my college experience can help me with.
When I look at a college, the number one priority for me is that it is located in a major city, so I can get the experience working with inner city children, because that is something that is somewhat difficult for me to do now because of my location. One school that stands out to me is Ohio State, because of its location in Columbus. They offer many programs that could help me on my journey to helping underserved youth, such as their College Mentors for Kids program. Through the program, each student at OSU is paired up with a local elementary aged student to teach them about many important topics, such as culture & diversity and community service. Just thinking about being paired up with one of these amazing kids brings a smile to my face and makes me so much more excited for the experiences I will get to have in college.
Encountering diversity and mentoring inner city youth are parts of college I look forward to because I have seen the impact they have had on me as a person. During that one week at camp, when I met people who were different then me, I saw how much I changed for the better and how I stepped outside my comfort zone. I can only imagine what kind of person I could become by being engaged in that much diversity all the time. Also, being able to mentor these kids brings so much joy to my heart, as well as to theirs. I became a much stronger person by becoming a role model to those girls, and I learned that I can have a huge impact on their lives. Some people may look forward to college for the parties, some may look forward to the freedom, but I look forward to see the change that I can bring to so many people’s lives who desperately need it.