February 2016 - Blog Post 2

A club I am frequently involved with at school is Lunch Buddies. I have been the president of the club for the last three years. Once a week, I sit with the disabled students in Mrs. Miller's class. This experience has been extremely enjoyable and something I look forward to every week. I love talking to the other students because they are so much fun to talk to and sit with. They lead interesting lives and I love getting to hear about what they do. I have made some new friends with this club and it has been a lot of fun getting to know new people. I make a new friend each time and it's nice having people open up to me. Many of the kids are pretty shy and quiet at first but once they get used to me being there, they talk to me more and I love how much more confident and open they are. This is an experience I am grateful to have been a part of for the last few years and I definitely want to keep this up until I graduate.

February 2016 - Blog Post 1

I am a member of the Youth Representatives of Greensboro and we meet once a month to discuss and explore different issues and aspects of the city of Greensboro. For the February day session, our topic was Serving Society. We got the opportunity to go to Backpack Beginnings and help sort out food to be donated to Guilford County Schools and given to students who do not have adequate meals at home. This experience was so much fun and definitely a lot of work. We had to split up the food into over ten different categories based on expiration date and then further separate those by fruit, vegetables, pasta, etc. We had to put the food in giant boxes, seal them, weigh them, and put them in storage. This activity is definitely something I am going to go back and do on my own because it was an amazing experience and it is a solution to an issue that impacts a lot of children in Guilford County. Sadly, North Carolina is home to counties with some of the highest rates of hungry children, who do not have available food at home, in the entire nation! It was eye-opening hearing the statistics on how many children do not have basic necessities available to them and it really makes me want to do more to help out and this is definitely one program I want to be more involved with in the future.

January 2016 - Reflective Blog

Throughout my volunteering experiences, I think I have definitely grown as a person. A lot of the activities I take part in involve helping others in need. Volunteering to help those who need help has been a passion of mine since I was younger and I have my parents to thank for that. They have taught me from a young age to put myself in other people's shoes and really take advantage of what I am privileged to have. I know this sounds incredibly cheesy but it's extremely true! I like that I get to serve my community and help those in need and it truly is amazing seeing how small, kind actions can have a large impact on someone's life. I mean, it's nice and all getting CAS hours and contributing to my IB Diploma with these service learning opportunities, but I would still volunteer and help if I did not have these requirements to fulfill. Honestly, all of these experiences have allowed me to see life from different viewpoints and I enjoy having these opportunities to grow as a person and to help others!