A Goal's Vision by Shalom

A Goal's Vision by Shalom - April 2022 Scholarship Essay

Everyone has a vision, so with the right mindset, and the right people, it can be brought to life. I have had many wonderful opportunities to volunteer through teaching, community cleanups, and passion projects. However, I wish to write about the time I got to teach SMART Goal setting to youth at the Goods New Shelter. During my freshman year, I created a passion project called "More Than Just A Backpack" that I started with the help of the Monster Education Foundation (M.E.F). We partnered with Good News Partners, a shelter in the Rogers Park neighborhood in Chicago, IL. I created a video of why and what we wanted to accomplish with this project, and submitted it to the Acting Up Awards, where we received a $5,000 grant. The money helped fund the resources my team bought for the shelter such as Chromebooks, chairs, and desks to update their empty room into a computer lab; and Target gift cards as incentives for the participants who met their goals. Twice a month, my team and I would go to the shelter and teach SMART Goals (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time-Bound). The kids would set SMART Goals that could be accomplished within a month because every time we came back the kids who fulfilled their goals would receive a $10 Target gift card and then create a new goal. These incentives persuaded the children (ages 7-17) to create at least three goals each time, and many of the kids accomplished their goals and were excited when they received the gift cards.
At first, most of the kids were surprised that we had come back over multiple times in a month, every month. I remember one of the younger girls saying, the second time she saw me, “I didn’t think you were actually coming back.” It made me wonder how many people have come to help once, said they would return, to only not come back again? We should question why we serve. Is it to put it on our resume, check off a list, or impress somebody? If those are one of the reasons, then I wanted to change that for the children at the shelter. Even though the grant required my team and I to commit to five months, I took it upon myself to continue until Covid-19 prohibited us from further meeting with the kids my second semester sophomore year.
There is power in commitment and committing to each kid. There is also power in each kid committing to their goals to create a vision. To ensure I did not leave them without a word before the lockdown, our final workshop was futuristic. We all wrote down our future goals and the steps it would take for each of us to accomplish them. For everyone to write a long-term goal, I predictably confirmed that they saw value in themselves. Inevitably I had a great time teaching the kids and getting to know them more. Every time I saw a new face—I got to impact a new life, which added to my value.