The Impact Of Learning In The Library by Tahiyya

The Impact Of Learning In The Library by Tahiyya - May 2018 Scholarship Essay

Towards the summer of my sophomore year, I started a volunteer experience that until now I consider to be one of the most beloved community service programs I have ever done throughout high school. This experience enabled me to figure out an ideal career path that I wanted to take, and further demonstrate skills that I could hopefully use in the future. When I initially began my volunteer experience, I will admit I was nervous. The only previous type of service that I had done at the time was through my religious center, however I ended up paying more attention to doing the work and getting the tasks done rather than focusing on what exactly I was doing and how it contributed to helping the community. Although I had done many more community service projects while doing this one, this service was one I not only enjoyed the most, also helped me establish a sense of responsibility and leadership, while enjoying the nature of benefitting the community.
The volunteer experience was in the library, and during this time they were starting with the summer lunch program, where the volunteers would pass out lunch boxes, straws, napkins, and record the total amount of the lunches given out. At the conclusion of the day, all of the volunteers would clean up the area, collect all the trash and vacuum the floor to make sure the room was left in the same condition from when we first arrived. Because I was a new volunteer, I started off with passing straws and napkins, however as the summer went to an end, there were some days where I took the initiative in recording the data. These overall procedures helped build up my social skills since I had to learn to communicate with others in a group, and gave me a small sense of accomplishment because I started simple and began increasing my confidence to where I could help others while helping myself. As summer came to an end, the excitement had just begun as the school year was about to start and we would transition to another program in which we would do multiple activities, educating children along the way.
The biggest part of my volunteer experience was when they started a program called the Library Explorers Club, where children would come and learn about various topics in a creative environment. All the volunteers were expected to work together in rehearsing plays, reading books, aiding in the science experiments, and helping the kids make crafts. At the conclusion of the day, we would clean up the room in the same manner we had done in the summer. Although I had been a volunteer over the summer, this was again a new process for me, and I wanted to become comfortable with the program and with the rest of the volunteers so that I can maintain being a role model for the younger children. Before I knew it, I was reading a story out loud in front of twenty to thirty kids and performing in more plays while taking the lead role in giving directions for the crafts. However, as I continued to volunteer week after week, I realized that being around younger children not only made me realize that helping them became one of the most important parts of the experience but the role of being engaged with children made me think about my contribution to society in the sense that as they leave the room, they learn something new every single week.
As the year went on, my characteristics when it came to volunteer work had increased significantly, as I no longer became the girl who tried to take all the tasks that were the most minimized. I began to come out of my comfort zone within my surroundings, and my outgoing personality had now helped me to create a special bond with the rest of the volunteers, as we would all collaborate and learn to appreciate one another. Reading in front of people and performing the plays helped me overcome my fears of both public speaking and stage fright, and helping kids with the crafts further increased my skills in multitasking and becoming more organized. By the end of the year, there were many qualities that I had gained and gave me a possible interpretation of what the real world could possibly entail for me in how being committed is a valuable part in hopefully bringing the community closer together.
When I finished this volunteer experience towards the beginning of my senior year, I also learned something new about myself, in that being around children gave me a sense of happiness through having the chance to let them view the world in a broader perspective through encouraging them to grow up and benefit the community in their own way. It additionally enabled me to interact with them more and understand their thought processes while opening their mindsets so that they can fully be themselves. This experience overall made me reflect on how helping children can be approached in the real world, and as I lean towards the end of my high school career, fully enhance my desires in working to a career in teaching young adults who may be in the same position that I currently am in right now, and help them view their lives through volunteer experiences in a distinct perspective.