Richard Neumann Scholarship

Ok hear me out. You wake up to the most glorious white snow of all time, 9 inches! After bundling up, running outside, and picking the best spot, you start to build. You are going to build the most glorious snowman of all time. For the next hour you roll, pat, and stack the snow into the perfect shape. You are done and now it is time for the details. Hat, check. Scarf, check. Corncob pipe, carrot, eyes, arms, and mouthpiece.... nothing. This is the problem faced by many of sad children every year and I have a plan to end the suffering. I need a blow mold factory, an engineer, and some cash to make this plan a reality. I would first consult with the Mr. Potato Head folks to get ideas on the needed accessories. From there my engineer would create a mold for all the body parts and items we would include in our offering. Machines would be bought for creating plastic molds and a staff would be assembled to start the process. As all this is going on, phase two would begin. My marketing director and sales manager would be creating a website for our company which is now named, Snow Swag, as well as setting up third party e-commerce platforms to sell our items. QVC has agreed to air a segment for us and Wal-Mart has also signed up to be our retail vendor. We have sourced the packaging and it will be arriving any day for us to start packing and shipping units. Commercials will start airing in one month on ESPN, Disney, Nickelodeon and Boom networks to get the kids excited and running to Mom and Dad about this amazing new find! We have solidified great shipping rates with UPS and trucks are on the way. The decisive moment has arrived. Will it be a hit and solve little Cindy and Billy's snowmen problem, or will it fail? The packages arrive and within 2 weeks Snow Swag is sold out and backordered nationwide. New vendors are pounding on the door to get in on the hottest thing since Pokémon and the internet is ablaze with excitement. Pictures are everywhere of snowmen that are alive with our swag and the best part, every kid is smiling in the picture knowing they have created the best snowman on the block. Problem solved. No more quarters for eyes, sticks for arms, rocks for lips, or various garage funk for a nose. The snowman is forever fixed. It is now time to cash in while the fire is hot and ride off into the snow swag covered sunset.

Lonely, depressed, and longing for human contact. This is how so many of us felt during the long months of the pandemic. Not only did my friends and I sympathize with each other about our emotional mindset, but I also started to see the psychological toll it was having on my grandmother. She lives alone in Texas and is in the highest risk group for COVID, so she needed to be completely isolated. In searching for a solution to ease her sadness, I realized how much a simple phone call lifted her spirits. I thought about how many senior citizens were not receiving phone calls and were left alone with no human contact. It also occurred to me that most senior citizens are not proficient with computers, adding to their disconnect from society. To address the problem, I began to seek out a program matching senior citizens with peers at my high school. Due to this sincere issue, I created a program that I named “Old School Meets High School.” I contacted the Center and was pleased to get an email putting me in touch with the Administrative Clerk, who was able to reach out to the senior citizen population. I created an advertisement in the Goebel Center’s newsletter and embarked on reaching out to high school students who I thought would enhance the program. Once seniors learned about the program, they were eager to participate with the high school juniors. I created a timeline of 8 weeks for each senior-student pair to have a weekly virtual call in which a variety of subjects would be discussed. I realized how awkward it could be to speak with a stranger from a different generation, so I researched and created a list of predetermined topics that seniors enjoy talking about, ranging from childhood memories, to favorite foods, to travel and entertainment. I provided corresponding questions for each topic to facilitate conversations. During this program, I met two wonderful seniors who provided me with insightful stories and life lessons. One senior spent her entire life traveling the seven continents and immersing herself in new cultures. When we knew each other better, she confided in me how car mechanics took advantage of her limited knowledge of cars, as well as her being an elderly woman, to make a dishonest profit. In return, I confided in her and discussed the daily stress that comes with taking AP classes. I learned from this senior the importance of broadening my perspectives and understanding how different cultures work. My other senior has spent her entire life involved in community service, helping feed and find shelter for the elderly. Based on her experiences, I am reminded of how fortunate I am, and why I always try to give back to the community. By identifying a need, taking the initiative, creating the program, and recruiting participants, the benefit was exponential. It required that I become more comfortable speaking to members of another generation and asking others to help reach a common goal. Not only was the feedback from the senior citizens outstanding, but I was surprised to find the high school students benefited just as much, if not more, from the wisdom passed on by the seniors. The “Old School Meets High School” program has enriched the lives of both high students and seniors, who have integral life lessons to share with younger generations. As the delta variant once again threatens those most at risk, I hope that my program will continue to bring a spark of happiness to all who participate.