I went to a large high school that had 3,200 kids in it. I had about 800 kids in my graduating class. Being that my school was such a large high school and was a mini college campus as we walked outside between buildings and classes- you needed to find your niche to meet people. In high school I was someone who was very involved with extracurriculars and I really enjoyed going to meet new people and working together on teams. I was involved with three clubs that dealt with solely on service within the community. For three years I was a member of the Key Club at my school and senior year, I even served as president. I worked to organize many events in the school and also at local elementary schools in the community too. We would go to the local schools and interact with the kids working carnival games and rides on some occasions. We also worked several times on writing cards for the elderly population in the community around the holidays and then delivered them with the help of our local Kiwanis. I was also part of my school’s Interact Club for three years and held an officer’s position for my senior year. Some of the events that we organized and put together were shoe and coat drive, annual senior citizen luncheons, and community wide dog walks. The senior citizen luncheons were my favorite as we got to serve food and talk to them and just make them feel important in the community, as they very much are. The dog walk was an event that we collaborated with the local Rotary about. It was where members of the community all came out with their dogs and all walked together as one around our town. We were also showcasing and walking dogs around that were up for adoption at the animal shelter helping them find homes. The third club I was part of was called Connect Club. It was a club that worked with students in my high school that had some mental disabilities. Every friday, we would go mix and eat lunch with that group and just get to know them by talking to them. We also took them out to some of the sporting events and talent shows at the high school which they all enjoyed very much. I made some good friends in this club that I will miss over the next few months. Another unique opportunity that I was presented with the opportunity to participate in was a spoof guy’s talent show at my high school. It was designed to raise money for a rare form of cancer that is so rare that the government cut all research funding for it. One of the students from my high school had tragically passed away a few years ago from the disease. All of the money that we raised from the show ended up going to the research fund for that cancer. It was cool because the ten of us who were nominated by teachers to participate, combined to raise $6,000 just over one night and brought out 800 people to see the show. The entire show was designed to be a comedy act with a casual dress, formal dress, talent part, question and answer, escort part, and fun group dances. It made me feel like I was doing a great thing to help out and that hopefully it will make a difference in someone’s life one day. There was also some other service events that I participated in during my time before Virginia tech. My entire senior year, I would go and volunteer at the local hospital in my town once every week for at least three hours.This was a really neat experience that I was grateful to have as I was able to interact with patients in a hospital and people of all different personality types. I enjoyed making people smile in whatever way that I could during their unfortunate trip to the hospital. During the summer months, I volunteered from 8 am to 5 pm every Tuesday because I enjoyed it so much during school. I also was really big into Relay for Life in high school. I enjoyed raising money for a great cause and helping out by giving some of my time back. I plan to 100% to participate in Relay for Life here at Virginia Tech and possibly might join the committee board. I also jumped on the opportunity to tour people around my very large high school. I always helped with freshman orientations in the summers before school and enjoyed getting to ease their nerves about high school. I also toured some alumni tours around the school and loved hearing how the school had changed since they had been there. Overall service just turned out to be a huge aspect of my life in high school. I loved helping others in anyway possible and was in love with the Serve living learning community when I found out about it. I thought that there would be no greater experience than living all of the time with people that share my same passion for helping others. It was and is a community filled with amazing people that all are willing to give up some of their time to make a difference in any way possible. There are so many great opportunities for community service at Virginia Tech like (the largest collegiate) Relay for Life, the Big Event, and so much more. But those events were only one time a year, where Serve allowed me to participate in helping others the entire semester. I couldn’t be happier that I chose to be a part of a great living learning community that truly does live by Virginia Tech’s school motto everyday, Ut Prosim.
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