Volunteering has always been an important part of my family, it’s something that all of us have done. At our church, my mom and dad would sing in the choir every week and then they would also help out by organizing, filing paperwork, setting up for events, and so many more things. Once I was old enough, I got to tag along and help them as well. All throughout middle school and high school, I participated in various events and clubs (like Key Club in high school) and at least in my high school career, I accumulated over 300 hours of community service. Currently in college, I’m unfortunately not able to volunteer as much as I once did with work and with school, but once I’m done with school, I’m hoping to do more! With the time that I have now, I volunteer every Sunday at my church and teach a kindergarten Sunday school class with another teacher, and I sing in the Sunday morning choir at my church. I was one of the teachers of the Kindergarten and First Grade Kid’s Choir, but once again, I had to unfortunately stop once I started having night classes. I absolutely love to volunteer, especially being able to help out little kids. Volunteering allows me to lead (in most cases) kids and be able to create an opportunity by encouraging them and teaching them. Whether it be through volunteering or paid work, I strive to lead and be the best example that I can be, both to children and adults. To me, volunteering isn’t just something that I feel obligated to finish or that it's something that I need to get done, it’s something that I want to get done. I absolutely love being useful to people and helping others, with nothing in return. It’s more rewarding to me personally than getting paid because I’m able to see the “fruits of my labors” and I’m able to see the good that came from the help that I provided or how grateful someone is that I helped to make their jobs or lives just a little bit easier. I’m currently in school pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Speech-Language Pathology and then I’m applying for graduate school hoping to obtain a master’s degree in that same area (you need to have a master’s in order to be certified). I have learned so much through all of my volunteering experiences that it has proved to be extremely beneficial to my field of education. I’ve learned that pediatric work really is my passion, especially when it comes to helping kids who need help. Even if I choose or end up not doing pediatrics, I can make a difference at any age point for literally anyone. Once I am financially stable enough, I would love to be able to volunteer my SLP knowledge and experiences to be able to provide help to people who can’t afford it, and maybe even go on a mission trip somewhere if I can. One thing that I do know is that as long as I’m able to do it, I will always volunteer.

I am someone who grew up in the Church and God has always been a part of my life. I thankfully never had a point in my life that I ever questioned my relationship with the Lord but up until high school I was definitely more of what people might call a “passive Christian”, I would attend church every Sunday with my family and I would volunteer here and there, but I never really felt like I “belonged”. Once I moved away from home to attend university however, I feel like that was a huge reset on my life. I started out small volunteering in the children’s choir on Wednesday nights after seeing a message about it in the Sunday bulletin. I helped out with Kindergarten and first-grade choir for about a year until I needed to start taking night classes on Wednesday for school. But thankfully in the middle of that time, I joined the adult choir and started singing every Sunday morning, I joined the college group at the church and finally started making friends my age who were believers, I met my now boyfriend, and I started teaching a Sunday School Class for Kindergarteners with him. Also through that college group, I met two sisters and their family adopted me as their “college child” to be my home away from home. I am so eternally grateful for that family. I struggled a lot when I moved away from home trying to find friends and a community to fit into. When I showed up to the college Sunday group for the first time they came up and started talking to me because they noticed I was new and wanted me to feel welcome. They invited me to their house for dinner one week and that one week turned to two, then to three, then I was coming to their house every week (and I still am) to have a nice home-cooked meal and to just relax and play some games, maybe go swimming, watch a movie. I am incredibly thankful to the Lord for putting them in my life and giving me a second family so I never feel alone. Currently, I am an aspiring Speech-Language Pathologist. I'd be able to help people, literally anyone, babies, children, adults, seniors, and those with mental or physical disabilities, there's no place that I wouldn't be able to provide at least some help or aid to people. I have never been more enthusiastic, energetic, and excited to pursue something in my life. After attending my church for about 2 years, through all of my connections I was able to find a place to live with a lady from my church who was more than happy to let me live in one of her spare rooms starting in 2024 at no charge. If it wasn't for her, I probably would have had to move back home after I graduate with my bachelor's in the spring of 2024 to work for a year or so in order to save up money for graduate school, rent, textbooks, groceries, gas, paying for school...everything that adds up. Eventually in the future, once I'm financially stable enough, I would love to be able to volunteer my SLP talents and experiences to be able to provide help to people who can't afford it, maybe even go on a mission trip somewhere. I'd also like to be able to house college students for free or low charge in order to provide them an opportunity to pursue education like the opportunity that was given to me.

Volunteering was and still is something that my parents introduced me to at a young age, it’s something that has always been a huge part of my life. Both of my parents attended choir every Sunday and Wednesday, donated their time to the church office by helping organize, cleaning, and filling things, and eventually when I was old enough, they let me tag along and help with them. As of the present, I volunteer my time as well to be a part of the Sunday Choir at church just like them. I used to teach the children’s choir on Wednesday nights but unfortunately had to stop that because of Wednesday night classes that I had to start taking for school. Fortunately, I can still at least teach my Kindergarten class on Sunday mornings. VBS is also something that I look forward to every year to be able to participate in, and I've been able to volunteer at schools around me working with children with Autism and other developmental and mental disabilities as well I often get asked by my friends (mostly non-believers) why I even put in all the time and effort to put together lessons and activities for my kids on Sunday if I'm not getting paid, "Why waste all that time?" they ask. I remember growing up in Sunday school and having the most wonderful teachers. If I didn't have those people teaching me, I don't think I would be here today. Volunteering allows me to lead people (and most commonly in my case, kids) through both faith-oriented beliefs and just overall giving them the opportunity for a better future and possibilities by encouraging them and teaching them. But not only am I teaching them, but they're also teaching me. I'm currently in school pursuing a bachelor's degree in Speech-Language Pathology (graduating Spring of 2024) and then I'm applying for graduate school hoping to obtain a master's degree in that same area (you need to have a master's in order to be certified) to work in the field of pediatrics. Throughout all of my experience teaching to my various different kids, I have learned so much from that experience. It has reaffirmed that It really is my passion to help others, which is why I'm so excited to continue my education and career to become a Speech-Language Pathologist (SLP). Whether it be through volunteering or through paid work, I strive to lead and be the best example that I can be, both to children and adults. People often think that it’s just children that need to be led, that need to be taught the way of life, but people overlook the adults too. To me leading doesn’t just mean holding their hand and “showing them the way”, but providing the opportunity to someone to improve or fix themselves, “get better”, and reach their full potential. I think that’s why I am so excited to join the field that I’m in and to work with the various populations. From my essay, you can tell that I love children but that doesn’t mean I just want to work with that age group as an SLP, I want to be able to help adults and seniors with their speech, swallowing, etc. so they can talk to and interact with their children and grandchildren. I want to be able to lead them to be the best person that they can be, so they can lead others.

Volunteering has always been a big part of my life, it was something that my parents introduced me to at a young age. My parents both participated in the choir and sang every Sunday morning, volunteered their time at church events, and helped out in the office, organizing, cleaning, and doing whatever else needed to be done, and once I was old enough, they let me tag along. Currently, I volunteer my time to be a part of the choir on Sundays at church which I look forward to every week. I used to teach the children's choir on Wednesday nights for a while before I had to start taking Wednesday night classes for school, which I was very disappointed about but I could unfortunately do nothing about. I teach a Kindergarten Sunday school class every week. VBS is also something that I look forward to every year to be able to participate in, and I've been able to volunteer at schools around me working with children with Autism and other developmental and mental disabilities as well. Unfortunately, since I'm in school and working, there's not much other volunteering that I'm able to give my time to outside of church, but I volunteer what I can. Through my brief timeline, volunteering has always been a passion of mine and something that has been important to me. It's something that I saw my parents doing growing up and I was so proud of them and I knew that I wanted to be like them, being able to help where I could, and not getting a reward monetarily, but being able to see the work pay off in person. I often get asked by my friends (mostly non-believers) why I even put in all the time and effort to put together lessons and activities for my kids on Sunday if I'm not getting paid, "Why waste all that time?" they ask. I remember growing up in Sunday school and having the most wonderful teachers. If I didn't have those people teaching me, I don't think I would be here today. Volunteering allows me to lead people (and most commonly in my case, kids) through both faith-oriented beliefs and just overall giving them the opportunity for a better future and possibilities by encouraging them and teaching them. But not only am I teaching them, but they're also teaching me. I'm currently in school pursuing a bachelor's degree in Speech-Language Pathology (graduating Spring of 2024) and then I'm applying for graduate school hoping to obtain a master's degree in that same area (you need to have a master's in order to be certified) to work in the field of pediatrics. Throughout all of my experience teaching to my various different kids, I have learned so much from that experience. It has reaffirmed that It really is my passion to help others, which is why I'm so excited to continue my education and career to become a Speech-Language Pathologist (SLP). Even if I choose to not work in pediatrics, I can make a difference at any age point for any age. Once I'm financially stable enough, I would love to be able to volunteer my SLP talents and experiences to be able to provide help to people who can't afford it, maybe even go on a mission trip somewhere. One thing that I do know, however, is that as long as I'm able to walk, talk, and believe, I'm never going to stop volunteering.

The word that was mentioned in the "Ode to Millennials-Gen Z" is something that is at the forefront of many young minds in those specific generations. There have been many times when others (typically older adults, Gen X, and above) have explained to me the hard times that they encountered and went through and how it compares to the easy life that we have in the current times. Now, I'm not trying to discredit them and say they didn't experience hardships, because they did, but just because we as a generation haven't experienced those exact same hardships, doesn't mean we didn't experience any. There are honestly so many differences between our generations that it's hard to make a direct comparison to "who had it worse), or at least that's what I thought until I read The Ode. Low income, unemployment, a world where the money you make isn't enough to live off of. That last part really hits home to me personally. I moved three hours away from my home to attend college, now it doesn't sound like much considering other students move states or across the country, but for me, that was a big move. I lived on campus and now currently at a student apartment and I am struggling to even afford rent. I am a full-time student, I work 20 hours a week, I participate in clubs and extracurriculars, I have to pay $800 in rent, pay for school, pay for textbooks, pay for graduate school applications, pay for groceries, pay for gas, everything adds up. I am so thankful that I was able to find a place to live with a lady from my church who was more than happy to let me live in one of her spare rooms starting in 2024. If it wasn't for her, I probably would have had to move back home after I graduate with my bachelors in the spring of 2024 to work for a year or so in order to save up money for both graduate school and housing. Now, I am an aspiring Speech-Language Pathologist, in order to become fully certified on the national and state level, I need to obtain a master's degree. I have never been more enthusiastic, energetic, and excited to pursue something in my life. I'd be able to help people, literally anyone, babies, children, adults, seniors, and those with mental or physical disabilities, there's no place that I wouldn't be able to provide at least some help or aid to people. In order to fulfill my goal and dream, I need to first, be accepted into the program, and then I need some way to obtain a loan or scholarship, maybe win the lottery if I'm lucky to pay the approximately $24,000 I need to pay everything off, and that's just grad school, not counting undergraduate. I desperately want to be accepted into the program, I want to make a difference, and I want to help people both through working and with volunteer work in that field, but it'll all come screeching to a halt if money becomes an issue. Yes, money was an issue for the past generations, but not in this way. Compared to the past, many majors (such as my own) require a higher education level compared to 10, 20, 30, 50 years ago. Now this makes sense, as we have progressed as a society, we have learned new things and discredited old things that need to be taught, that's not what I have a qualm with. I have a qualm with the problem that we aren't given the proper resources to be able to follow through and achieve this new standard level that the older generation put in place for us, they expect us to figure it out all on their own cause they were on their own then so we should be too. Thankfully, I am blessed to have an opportunity given to me with my living situation those fears and problems are reduced slightly (not completely gone). I know there's not much that I can do or accomplish right now that will change anything, but once I achieve my goal of graduating with a master's, this will be my next goal. Using the knowledge and experience that I have I want to help the system to tilt more in favor of students. I want to be able to offer scholarships to students and provide free or low-charge housing to students like what was provided to me. As the saying goes, I want to "pay it forward", remember what was provided and given to me and more, then pass it along to the next generation to hopefully prevent problems like in the present.

This is my dog Mako and he is turning 11 this year. He may not look that old but that's because he's a puppy at heart. These pictures were actually taken about a year ago while my sister and I took him on a walk and they are my favorite pictures of him. @picturesque_942

In July of 2017, I went on a shark dive with my family. No cage, no protective gear, just scuba equipment and a lot of faith in our dive guide (who was feeding the sharks while we were there). This was both an amazing and terrifiying experience. Being so close to the sharks and having them swim literally inches away from my body is something I'll never forget. (I'm at the far right with my sister to the left of me and my parents to the left of her.)