Through my scholars program, Mount Leadership Society, as 2nd years we are challenged to get 75 hours of service. Since I want to specialize in oncology when I go into the medical field, I applied to volunteer at The James Hospital. This experience has brought me great joy and exposed me to many new experiences. I volunteer in the Hematology Oncology Transplant Clinic here. My role includes cleaning rooms, keeping things tidy, and most importantly making sure the patients are comfortable. I bring them food, warm blankets and keep them company during their transfusions. The patients here help me realize how grateful I am but their positivity and strength are what really inspire me. I love getting to know them and talking about life. The patients and the people who work there make me realize that I am on the right path in my career and I can continue to make a difference in other’s lives.

Summer going into my junior year, I attended a leadership conference called the Hugh O’Brian Youth Leadership, HOBY. This conference takes place all over the United States for over 10,000 students each year. During this week, students listen to speakers, work in teams, and learn how to be an effective leader in their community. This is especially shown through service and volunteer work.  I was nervous and excited but after that week, I realized my purpose of being there and what my goals for the future were. I learned that leaders do not have to always be the most outspoken or the center of attention, but rather people who care for a certain issue enough to make a difference and get others to do the same. I learned that the way I was going to do this was through volunteering.

In the past, I did not have the courage to go volunteer by myself or branch out. After HOBY, I knew I needed to step out of my comfort zone to achieve my goals and become a leader. I began volunteering for Stepping Stones, a camp for children with disabilities. I found a passion for helping others and made special connections with the participants at the camp. This, however, was just the first step. I got involved in many other volunteer opportunities outside of my high school including coaching volleyball and soccer, leading a youth group for grade school students, and Josh Cares, which is an organization that helps provide child life specialists to children in the hospital. One of my biggest commitments was joining the executive board to plan CancerFree Kid’s Night for the Fight. This is an overnight even for high school students to raise money for pediatric cancer research. I really devoted myself to this organization and found a passion for helping families and children affected by cancer.

Through these service experiences, I gained many hours of volunteer service and therefore received The President’s Volunteer Service Award (Gold Level). The service was much more than this award though because I found something loved and could continue to do my whole life. I became a leader in my own way and developed skills that have helped me in college and will continue to in the future.

At my school, every senior must complete a “senior project” where each student picks a topic to research for a whole year and do service with. That student must write a research paper, do volunteer work, and create a final project that relates to this topic.

For my senior project, my topic was making the most out of adversity specifically with childhood cancer. This was important to me because since sophomore year, I have wanted to become a physician’s assistant and work in pediatric oncology. Working with families who have gone through this battle would help me gain some insight on if this job would be right for me. I worked with a nonprofit in Cincinnati called CancerFree KIDS. Every year they host an event, Night for the Fight, where over 1,000 high school students stay up all night and raise money for pediatric cancer research. I had been involved in this event for 3 years on the leadership team and was hoping to do something a little more.  My goal for this project was to work with families whose kids have had childhood cancer and create a video to portray at CancerFree KIDS’ Night for the Fight.

With the help from my mentor, I worked with 3 amazing families whose children are childhood cancer survivors! I created questions, interviewed them, and compiled different clips into one video. I learned that creating a video is a lot harder than I expected and took a lot more time and hard work. Through this process, I saw first hand how much of an impact cancer had on these families. To see how they overcame adversity as a family and still continue to have a positive outlook on life is inspiring. I became inspired to share their story with others at Night for the Fight, in hopes of others wanting to raise more awareness and money to help end pediatric cancer. I showed the video in February 2018 and received lots of feedback from students who felt a connection with the video.

By showing this video and taking a whole year to go through this process, I gained many different skills to use throughout my life. Some of these skills include: confidence, time management, professionalism, and perseverance. My biggest takeaway though was that I still want to pursue a career in pediatric oncology as a physician’s assistant. This has helped me in college by choosing a major and getting involved with different clubs such as: Future Buckeye Physician Assistants and Buckeyethon. I hope to continue to be an advocate for curing childhood cancer and this was just one of my first steps in doing so.

Here is my video I created through this. I hope you enjoy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAEsrORkMHo&featur=