I enjoyed volunteering growing up, I guess. My parents instilled a healthy respect for philanthropy in my sisters and me from a young age. It was something you just did, like brushing your teeth or finishing your homework. But it was a chore, an obligation that needed to be fulfilled before you could go have fun.
Things changed when I turned 16. I began to feel the need to give back. I had too many blessings in my own life and I felt the desire to “pay it forward.” I began to volunteer at a women’s shelter in my home town and it changed my life. It was a much needed reality check. Like a bucket of ice water, this experience woke me up and opened my eyes. It made me want to do more.
The summer before my senior year I traveled to the Dominican Republic. Our goal was to teach children English and to build a playground at the school where we were working. I felt like I gained so much from that experience. It opened my eyes even more and helped me start to think about volunteering on a global scale. It made me realize that there is always something more that you can do to help.
By the time I graduated high school, volunteering had become a huge part of my life. The summer before I came to college was my busiest yet, I was volunteering almost 40 hours a week on top of having a full time job. I loved every minute of it. Then I came to college. Classes began and I joined a few clubs, made some friends, and got involved. I soon realized, however, that something was missing. I MISSED volunteering. I missed how it felt to know I was helping someone else, even in a small way. That’s when I applied to become an Americorps Fellow. I was thrilled when I got accepted, but also slightly wary because I knew the program’s primary goal was working with at-risk youth. I worried that I would have a hard time working with kids, since the primary focus of volunteering had been with women and young adults in the past. So I was a little concerned.
That concern is all gone today. President’s Prep has started up at Washington High School and today we had a few students come in for help. Talking with them and helping them with their work was great. I actually felt like I was making a difference. I was helping one boy complete an English paper and he told me that he was “dumb.” I asked him why he thought that, and he told me that everyone said he was dumb – his mom, her boyfriend, his 5 siblings, his friends, etc. I just felt awful. How is this boy supposed to want to go to school and get an education if everyone was telling him that he would fail? I asked him what his favorite class was. He hesitated and didn’t want to tell me, but I kept pushing. “Math,” he said. “If I could do anything I’d want to teach kids like me math and make them feel smart. I only ever feel smart in math class.” It made me so sad and so proud all at once. I talked to him for a little while more about his goals and the future and then made him promise to come back and see me for more help after school the next week. I hope I can make a difference for him. Maybe one day he will be teaching math and he will KNOW that he is not dumb. For me, that’s the type of difference I hope I can make in this program.
-Alex
