As I came to The Ohio State University, I wanted to get involved as much as possible with service. I knew Health Science Scholars would help lead me on the path to getting the service I desired. This year, I was able to do a wide variety of service, ranging from washing homeless individuals feet to helping Girl Scouts sell their cookies to helping clean cat cages for a cat shelter. The most memorable service experience for me had to be washing homeless peoples’ feet. I was able to see the change directly and right away. It really opened my eyes to the troubles that are around us and allowed me to appreciate my life as these individuals appreciated a simple foot bath so much. My role in this was to bring a positive attitude and give these people a safe place to relax, enjoy their time, and also be pampered, as everyone deserves that every now and then. I gained a new understanding of appreciation and gratitude after this experience.
The service opportunities I had were volunteering for 5 hours at a cat shelter for Community Commitment with people from scholars, helping with a blood drive for 1 hour for Red Cross outside classrooms, made bracelets for children in hospitals for a total of 4 hours with Buckeyes for a Cause in a classroom, washed homeless peoples’ feet at Saint Sophia’s shelter with nursing students for 2 hours, made packed lunches for the homeless with girls from my sorority for 2 hours in our sorority house, sold Girl Scout cookies with an organization for 1 hour on High Street, welcomed future students with Welcome Buckeyes for 2 hours in the Union, and watched children whose parents have cancer for 3 hours with Camp Kesem at a park. As you can see, my year was full of service, and I couldn’t be happier with how it turned out.