My journey of life has lead me on many different experiences and allowed my to acquire many valuable skills I will take throughout my life. From being a involved in volunteer programs from kids with disabilities, being a member of National Honor Society, to my first job, I have learned leadership, team work, responsibilities, patience, creativity, and quick thinking. Overall, I want to be involved on campus while still getting good grades in the classroom and with the skills have acquired through my life, I believe I will be able to achieve this goal and be an asset to the college I wish to attend.
One thing that I like to do in my free time is volunteer. I have worked with many programs but the one that sticks out with me the most is when I volunteered and was a mentor for Miracle League of the Fox Valley. It is a program designed to teach children from ages 4-19 with cognitive and/or physical disabilities about baseball. I got partnered with a girl named Brianna that had down syndrome and I was able to be her mentor and help her. We would meet at the baseball field every week in the months of June, July, and the beginning of August.
Every time we meet, Brianna would come to me with a new story to tell me about what she did the last weekend and was always enthusiastic to play baseball. Our relationship grew every week and before I knew it, I made a new friend. This experience reminded me of how thankful I am and has taught me many valuable things in life. It taught me to take risks. I had never been apart of Miracle League and at first when I signed up, I was nervous about working with a children with disabilities. I didn’t know what kind of disability she had or how she was going to behave.
I also was nervous about meeting the mentors n my team because many of the have been on the same team for many years and they knew each other so I felt out of place. However, I soon got to know the people and it was no longer scary. Through working with kids with disabilities, I also learned many life lessons. I was able to understand the things people with disabilities undergo and the way they are received by society. My attitude changed as well and I now take more time and care when helping them. I viewed this volunteer project as an opportunity to gain valuable life experience, grow friendships, learn to have more patience, and it has made me thankful.
All of these skills that I learned through my volunteering could be a benefit and things I will bring them to college with me. Through my experience with the Miracle League, I have tired to resemble Belle from Beauty and the Beast. She didn’t judge the Beast by his appearance just like | didn’t judge Brianna. Instead, I got to know Brianna and it turned out the she is one of the bubbliest and nicest people have meet. I was also dedicated ike Belle was to the Beast, and enjoyed meeting every week to hang out with Brianna and play baseball.
It was rewarding to me to know that I was going out into my community and making a difference and helping Brianna. When she crossed home plate, I have never seen a bigger smile on someone’s face. It was very inspiring and made me love volunteering. That’s when I knew I was doing the right thing and it was exactly what I was supposed to do with my life. One of my first permanent jobs was babysitting in the summer for a family with three little boys. I worked about 10 hours a day and about three days a week. Just like school, it taught me how to be on a schedule and show up on time even though I am not a morning person.
It also taught me how to balance a job, family, friends, and hobbies. I had to be responsible because the parents were trusting me and letting me take care of their kids. Just like volunteering, I learned patience as well. I was put to the test on my patient when one of the little boys was throwing a tantrum. One interesting story I have about testing my patience is when the youngest boy did not want the dad to leave in the morning and started chasing his car out of the driveway so the dad brought him back in and told me to hold him while he left.
When he was starting to calm down, I loosened my grip a bit but before I knew it, he was running down their road in the subdivision for his dad. I had to chase the boy bare foot down the road. The more I kept running at him, the more he would run further away from the house and at int I was furious. It really tested my patience and I finally got him heading back towards the house where he beat me to the door, let out the dog, and then locked me out of the house. At that point, I had to chase the dog down and then make the boy let me back into the house as he was laughing at me from inside.
This is the time that my patient was tested to its limit and I learned how to keep a level head and not blow a gasket. | also had to learn how to problem solve and figure out how I was going to get back into the house which is another skill I had learn and quick! Once I got into the house, I had to communicate with the kid that I was the boss and that he needs to listen to me. I quickly learned that talking to children it hard and that it goes in one ear and out the other. I learned that the key is to speak to them clearly and kindly, but also firmly so they know you aren’t taking their crap.
While babysitting, I also learned how to act quick and be creative when they were bored so they didn’t start fighting with each other. For example one day, we had a pizza party day. So for the craft of the day they made chef hats and ot to decorate them. They then each got to make their own personal homemade pizza. However, at the end of this fun, we had to clean up so we used teamwork which a very important skill to have. I assigned each kid to a different task and we worked together and got the mess cleaned up.
Throughput by babysitting experience, I learned how to balance my time like I would at college with my friends, homework and hobbies. I also learned valuable skills of teamwork and patience which I will need in school and in a job. I was quick on my feet, problem solved, and created projects. I would like to be involved in different clubs and activities on campus where could use these skills I acquired throughout babysitting. Another thing that I am very proud of is that I was able to participate in National Honor Society.
To me it is a great honor to be part of this generation because it shows my endurance, hard work, dedication, and deviation. In order to get into National Honor Society you have to have above average grades and be scholarship material. This is something that doesn’t come as easy to me as it does others. I have to put in a lot of time studying in order to get an outcome that I am pleased with. This shows that I am hardworking and dedicated. I can not recall a time that I didn’t turn in a project or assignment in on time. I am responsible,take initiative, and do not procrastinate.
When there is a task to be done, I dig into it into it right away and active productive and efficient. Another quality look look at to join National Honor Society is your character. Students with a good character demonstrate honesty and integrity, fairness, respect, responsibility, caring, and citizenship in all their actions. Honesty and truth are morals that I personally like to live by. I also think it is important to be a friendly, nice, and caring person. My mom always taught me that you don’t have to like everyone, but you do have to treat them right.
Being apart of National Honor Society also allows me to do something that I love- volunteer, out in the community. I am always willing to work to benefit those in need without need of recognition of any kind. I try to give back to my school and community as much as I can. One example of a service project we did for National Honor Society was raking leaves in out in the community for the elderly. Members from National Honor Society would pile into someone’s car with our big rakes and went from house to house raking the leaves. The elderlies were so sweet and very thankful.
Some even baked us cookies and desserts which was a great bonus. Many of the elders came out by us and loved talking to us. They were amazed how quickly we worked and got the job done. Another personal quality that National Honor Society looks at is leadership. Leaders take the initiative to aid others in a wholesome manner throughout their daily activities. Leaders sacrifice their personal interests in order to yield to the needs of others. I showed my leadership through my volunteering in National Honor Society and helping out the community.
Leaders need wisdom and self-confidence to affect change in all aspects of their lives. I will take the skills that I learned and bring them to campus. My hardworking and dedication to grades and homework will continue throughout college. I would also like to use my leadership skills in college and join some clubs or activities. Through my activities of of volunteering, National Honor Society, and job of babysitting | have learned valuable life skills that I will continue to improve upon and utilize in college.
Learning the skills of teamwork, leadership, responsibility, and problem solving will allow me to have a good experience at college and get involved and join clubs and organizations to better my education. I would also like to continue my volunteering in college and use my caring and kindhearted personality to help others. I believe that my skills I have obtained and the experiences I have endured shape me into a person that will allow me to flourish at college and allow me to get involved, and make good memories while obtaining good grades.