Ethan was a person of kindness and selflessness, and was full of life. After he passed, I became lost. Reading about his story and knowing him in person, I was determined to make a difference and find a way to help people within my school and community in honor of him and what he stood for. Starting with wanting to become the leader of our school's blood drive.
When I volunteered to manage the blood drive, I knew I wanted to do it for Ethan. I alerted the main office for announcements, hung up posters around the school, spread the word on social media, and coordinated with the Red Cross to ensure we could collect as many donations as possible and on time with scheduling. Doing this made me feel better knowing I was encouraging others to save lives while having Ethan in my heart.
In addition to my work with the blood drive, I had the honor of being a manager for our school baseball team. Ethan would talk to me about baseball every day. The losses, the wins, his teammates, how baseball made him feel, and how much he loved it. When he passed, I wanted to feel closer to him. I wanted to do something he enjoyed while helping the team succeed overall. In my first year as manager, I posted and communicated the schedule, times, plays, etc. on Instagram and Google Classroom, I helped organize the team, brought equipment to the field and back, and learn to count pitches and the book while also having musical.
My desire to help others continued when a couple of my friends hit a rough patch and needed a place to stay, and I let them stay with me for a while, with my mom's consent, and helped them financially and mentally till they could get back on their feet. This continued when two of my other friends and their mother in our community were evicted later on and needed a place to stay. With my mom's support, we made space for them and helped them feel welcome and part of the family until they could get the financial support they needed, while helping them find a safe space in our home.
When winter arrived, I wanted to do more to give back to the community, so I went around shoveling snow with friends for people in my community, and more, especially older adults and those who couldn't do it themselves. It reminded me of Ethan's selfishness and how he always wanted to help others. It was a small but kind gesture to those around me.
Recently, I’ve been spending a lot of time outside, and I’ve noticed how messy the parks, fields, parking lots, and other public spaces have become. Seeing this, I felt like I had to do more, so I’ve been going around Sharon Hill and the Collingdale Field after my practices, picking up trash and offering people a hand if they need. Soon, I hope to join the Junior Council with an idea to start a community trash cleaning program, making the community around us feel cleaner and more comfortable to live in.
So, my experiences as a blood drive leader, a baseball manager, and a supporter in my community have all been based on Ethan's influence and selfishness. I know how much he wanted to help others and his community, and I intend to carry this legacy by dedicating my life to making an impact by spreading the word, keeping my community clean, helping others, and making them feel valued, heard, supported, and safe.
Residing in an economically-strained neighborhood, our district faces challenge after challenge.
Stepping into my high school the first year after COVID, I took notice of the copious lack of necessities my peers had access to. Witnessing this, I perceived the opportunity to quietly assist my classmates and chose to posit a solution to my district school board, suggesting the opening of a free, anonymous, resource closet in the school with accessibility to all students. Starting bereft of stock, the resource closet grew immensely. After sharing this story to Fox News, boxes and bags of clothing, feminine hygiene products, general hygiene products, as well as shoes, and laundry products poured into our inventory. Little by little, more and more students began to utilize the closet which would become known as the Knight’s Chamber. Eventually, students from other schools would come to make use of the Knight’s Chamber.
Consequently, this experience has significantly altered my outlook when it comes to being the one to step up and create change for the better as opposed to continuing to be the bystander I once was. This chapter of my life led me to the conclusion that no matter how big or small something may seem, with the right resources (pun intended) nothing is impossible. Ever since this once small project was initiated, I’ve found ceaseless exultation in contributing to my compeers' glee in, and out, of my community from volunteering to coach another borough’s cheerleading team, to hosting a trash pickup in association with my local national wildlife refugee. This has additionally revelutionalized the way i view my horizons. I now set my standards higher than how i may have back in my freshman year. Each year, my confidence increases alongside my experience with this adventure. I push myself to endure greater things consisting of AP classes and increased difficulty in my assignments. My experiences are consistent with the age-old truth that obstacles always present chances for growth, resiliency, and the quest for self-improvement.
Knowing Ethan and the selflessness he contributed to others, it has inspired me to carry on that legacy by working harder and staying dedicated to those in need. He’s influenced me to stay kind regardless of the situation because we don’t know what others are going through. Having him comfort me in times i haven’t expressed my pain shows me just how far kind company can go. I aspire to continue to work and reach the level of selflessness he distributed to the world.
