United Way by Sarah

United Way by Sarah - December 2019 Scholarship Essay

Last year, I became involved in the United Way Youth Board of West Central Connecticut. A student who was on the board unexpectedly dropped out because the meetings conflicted with sports. As a result, my friend, Gianna, who was a member of the United Way Youth Board, recommended me to replace the open spot for Saint Paul’s. Thanks to her, the Saint Paul Advisor chose me to represent the school on their behalf. During my freshman and sophomore year, I had heard about United Way, but was not sure about what their mission was or what they did. According to the United Way of West Central Connecticut’s website, the Youth Board is described as “A collaboration of high school students, dedicated to motivate, mobilize and serve the community to make dreams a reality.” A common misconception is that teenagers want to help their communities, but do not know the best way to go about it. Personally, this is not something I struggle with. However, the Youth Board provides teenagers with the right opportunities to get locally involved in serving those who need our help the most, and it continues to extend into the community for years to come.
 
When I was asked to be on the United Way Youth Board, I naturally wanted to find out about what the organization was and what it stood for. As I found out, United Way is committed to service and what I love is that they are dedicated to serving the community locally. Something that unfortunately exists in our world today is that people only do acts of service for the sake of publicity or to fulfill service hours. Granted, service hours do need to be filled, but there is an opportunity to do more than what is required, to go above and beyond in all that you say, and more importantly, do. It is important that people are doing these acts with the right intentions.