Starting from a young age, I've never been the person to speak up or the first person to make friends. In fact, I was completely without friends in first grade and spent my time walking aimlessly around the playground just enjoying the nature around my small town. As a girl who's lived in Milan, Ohio her whole life, I've learned that there's more you can always do for your community even if you're not the talkative type. This year, I decided to join TLC, or Teen Leadership Corps. to make a lasting impact in community service my senior year. For this class, we have to choose one large leadership project to create, plan, organize, and complete to better our community and school environment. I was stuck for weeks trying to decide the best project for me to do that I would be passionate about and put in the work ethic to get done with speaking to the least amount of people possible. I eventually came up with the idea to introduce Letters to the Troops to both Edison Middle School and Edison High School. My determination to take on this project was because my uncle Talmadge Harder is currently stationed in Iraq overseas and always tells me that when there is no war in America, citizens tend to forget about the active troops that are overseas which creates a low morale throughout the ranks. I wanted to change this and bring awareness to my community. So I pitched it to my principal, which he enthusiastically agreed and even offered his services if I needed them. I created a letter template out of simple paper as my school is low on funds, and had my technology teacher print out hundreds of them for me to disperse. I then emailed the middle school principal to get his approval and the list of homeroom numbers so that I could separate the letters into the number of students per homeroom to place in the teacher's mailboxes for them to give out in the morning. It took me days to get it all set up, but once it was done, there was a sense of pride in myself that I can't even begin to explain, that I did this. I gave the students two weeks to turn in the completed letters, in which I was worried during this whole time if I would even get enough students who cared to even draw a simple picture for these soldiers. However, they pulled through. At the end of the two weeks, I went through and checked every letter, and with the ones that I self-approved, I had a total of 425 letters, enough for each soldier in a whole platoon overseas. I sent them over on December 26th, 2024 and am still waiting to hear word that my uncle has received them, but they should take a couple weeks to make it over there. But just knowing that I collected 425 letters, out of a small Division V school who doesn't even have 250 students in homerooms at the high school, it leaves me with the notion that I can bring change. No, I don't have to be the loudest person in a room, I can just be a girl with a passion and a drive. One girl, one mission to make a change. That's all it took, and that's all it will ever take. As I head off to college next year, I want to make more of these changes that bring awareness and change that our sometimes broken world needs.
Talking to people who I don't know is one of my biggest fears. Making a fool of myself during a first impression. But, being put in challenging situations, helps to make a person come out of their shell. I am a person who would rather watch and talk in my head than speak out. It is the personality trait that I hate most about myself, but there is very little I can do about it except getting out of my comfort zone.
I have volunteered in the community through local donation drives, bell ringing during Christmas time, and volunteering to be a camp counselor for my school's D.A.R.E. program. Some of the hardest people to talk to are those who are your age or younger. As a counselor I was scared of looking dumb in front of the kids, or that they wouldn't like me. But, the truth is that being an authority figure does not make you a villain. I also struggled being a bell ringer, sitting outside of Walmart in the dark, and talking to old people about how I was such an outgoing and kind person for volunteering in my free time. Was I really outgoing? Being in awkward and uncomfortable situations makes one stronger, and when paired with community service, can provide an excellent life experience.
Fear is one of the largest contributors to limited success. Being afraid that you might be awkward. Being afraid that you might say something stupid. Being afraid that people will see you differently. But the reality is that others are not as hypercritical of you as you are of yourself. I dwell on the smallest awkward interactions with another person, even while they may not remember it. Then I tell myself that I'll keep doing things that make me uncomfortable, but it doesn't help. I'm still introverted and scared of being awkward. But life isn't about perfecting your flaws, it's about mastering them. With volunteering, I master being awkward, and embody an introvert while giving back to the community.
Even though volunteering and talking to dozens of people I don't know may crush my soul, it doesn't mean that I hate volunteering. I love it. Giving back to the community when you aren't struggling helps your community stay alive, and eventually, if you may need help, the community can reach out and help you. The feeling when of doing the littlest thing to help someone, and they are extremely grateful for it makes every awkward laugh, and every awkward smile worth it. Seeing a true smile from someone who is in need is the greatest reward for stepping out of your comfort zone.
I have never been the most out-there kid in life. I tend to try and just stay in the background and get through things rather than make a big statement. But what I realized is that I don't have to be loud or attention-grabbing to help out others. Community service and volunteering has opened so many opportunities for me to meet new people and people of every background.
So what steps have I taken to become more involved in my community this year? Well, I am currently an active member of an organization called SkillsUSA. In this organization, we work together to get career tech students, such as myself, ready for the world of work. But along with that, we host fundraisers and drives for local organizations and places that need help. In about a week from when I am typing this, on December 9th and 10th we are going to a local thrift store in Sidney, Ohio to help them set up their Santa shop, which is their Christmas store, and helping them run it the following day.
Along with our close by community, we work with past teachers and students to help gather supplies and necessities for Kentucky. After the flooding started a lot of the schools had massive losses. Just last month we worked with a former teacher on a mission to collect books for a kindergarten through eighth-grade school district. We collected over 2,000 books for them and are now working on getting them tools for their career tech, also known as vocational, school. One of my favorite volunteer opportunities is when I get the chance to help ring the bell outside of stores for the salvation army. With ringing the bell, we play music, dance, and just talk with the people walking by about their days. That usually gets people to donate more and also lets me know more about my community. I try to make my volunteer opportunities as fun as possible.
Another volunteer opportunity I gratefully got to participate in was going to Troy, Ohio for a mental health fair to give haircuts and styles to people to brighten their day a little bit. I am a student in a career tech school in cosmetology and being able to go out and cut someone's hair to hopefully make their day better was just amazing. I also hope to visit some of the nursing homes soon to just talk with some of the elderly for the holidays, ones that may not have family around to talk to them. I am always looking for more ways to volunteer, and plan to volunteer as much as I can before this year is over and so much more next year.
