Yifan Zhu "Late Night" Scholarship

I have volunteered at Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital for three years; I did daily rounds where I went to every patient's room. After rounds, I would help concierges, nurses, and doctors with anything they needed and I also helped people who got lost in the hospital. However, the best part about my job is that I got to talk to the patients, and I could see how me just being there and having someone they can talk to and listening to them brought a smile to their face. That would make my day and theirs before they went to bed. Getting to work at my local hospital has been the best experience in my life; I feel privileged to have the opportunity to connect with people in their most vulnerable state. Another great experience I had the privileged to participate in was volunteering in a Special Education Class at Boronda Meadows Elementary School for four years. I got to help kids with many different learning disorders; this was also the class I was in when I was in elementary school. This amazing experience working with those students and helping the teachers. As a personal with a learning disorder helping these students, was the world to me because I got to mentor some of those students to this day. Volunteering at Sun Street Center S.T.E.P.S. I worked directly with people to discuss their addictions and formulate a plan to improve their life. Created presentations on effects drugs and alcohol have on people and their families. Assisted with community leaders to organize more programs to assist the local population. This was an amazing experience for me because I got to meet wonderful people and really got to be a part of my community in a significate way. The different variety of experience I have gained volunteering in different places, has helped me develop my communication skills, leader role skills and mentor skill. All of these factors will end up helping me through college by giving me confidence to communicate with other when I needed it, take charge when it comes to working in groups and learn from others so I may be successful. My goals in college are to go to medical school after college. I have always wanted to go into the medical field; I just did not know what I wanted to do. Getting to volunteer at my local hospital, had open my eyes to so many professions like surgery, ER, and oncology. Oncology didn’t get personal with me until my grandma was diagnosed with cancer. I knew right there, I was meant to be an oncologist; I want to inspire, spread love and happiness to as many people as I can, and the way I can do that is through oncology because if I can change one person’s life, then that’s all I need out of mine. It has been an amazing experience getting to volunteer in my community and getting to know different people and understanding the different areas in my city that need improvement and appreciation. Nevertheless, the countless hours I have spent volunteering in different areas in my city, not many people know or understand the unprivileged centers in the community. I hope to change this problem, I want to spend the rest of my life in the service of helping people’s health, from mental to physical. Heping those in need, especially now in these tough times is important to me because I want to be a public servant for those who need it the most.