“Many hands make light work.” To me, volunteering is more than just mandatory hours or mandatory service that colleges look for. Volunteering is about opening your heart up to people that may be less fortunate than you and giving sincere kindness back to them! With that being said, I entirely believe I have found that opportunity through Box of Balloons. What is Box of Balloons, you might ask. My volunteer group’s mission is to give memorable birthday parties to underserved kids living in poverty. My part in their process is to make their birthday boxes that hold their gifts. My goal with these boxes is to make each one of them individualized and special. A few examples of the things I will decorate the boxes with are their names, a theme of their choosing, and even a coordinating color, where I will spray paint each brown-blank cardboard box to go with their theme. Box of Balloons is very special and touching to me because I have an adopted brother that lived in the foster care system his whole life. Learning about his life before entering our family really taught me the importance of love and compassion, and how it can really affect how people grow up. Through Box of Balloons, I hope to remind every child that receives one of our boxes, that they deserve thoughtfulness and kindness, and that even though it may not seem like it at times, someone will always care for them. The Kentucky Chapter of Box of Balloons recognized me in a special letter, for my volunteer contributions to their chapter and named me an "essential contributor", and stated, "Carly's volunteer efforts with and contributions to Box of Balloons Kentucky have had a positive impact on over 40 children." This letter is one of my most prized possessions, and I will cherish my work with this organization for a lifetime. I plan to continue my work with them when I am home from college and eventually hope to start a chapter where I live in the future. Other amazing volunteer activities I've been involved in are with Luv Michael, an organization dedicated to training, educating, and employing autistic adults. They are also strong advocates for educating the world on being strong allies to the autism community. I achieved 50 hours of community service with Luv Michael and am proud to say I raised $410 to help support their mission. I recently finished swimming five miles for St. Jude in March 2024. It was a very meaningful experience as one of our family friends was just diagnosed with childhood leukemia. Not only did I swim and feel like I was getting in shape, but I also raised $504 to support St. Jude fight childhood cancer. Other volunteer activities I've participated in are toy, book and clothes drives for underserved children at Christmas time. I volunteered to coordinate my swim team's annual banquet. I also volunteered consistently to help train younger swimmers, serve as lane timer, and help with equipment and maintenance at the pool. Volunteering doesn't have to be a grand gesture, or a long-term project. I really feel like volunteering is putting your heart out there for others in whatever way you are able. I have been fortunate to have some time to do longer-term projects, but I also try to do something small, but nice for people every day. This is also volunteering. I will always find some way to give back and hope to make a difference in the lives of others every day going forward.

“We are tied to the ocean. And when we go back to the sea…we are going back from whence we came.” —John F. Kennedy “You did your first flip-turn in the womb!” My parents have teased me with that comment ever since I was born. Their affectionate one-liner is based on the fact that I was a breach birth; my parents jokingly believed that my inversion was the first indication of my passion for being immersed in water. From the moment I entered the world as a perpetual mermaid, I was excited for any activity involving water: bath time, pool play dates, mud puddles, and worlds more. To feed that obsession, my parents dedicated their evenings after work to taking me to swimming lessons. I loved the water so much that after instruction ended each day, I would swim to the middle of the pool and refuse to get out; I knew my parents wouldn’t leap in to retrieve me unless I was in danger. (Unfortunately for me, the lifeguards would eventually take charge and return me to poolside!) Later, because I was such a “fish,” my aunt and grandmother took me to Hawaii as soon as I was old enough to swim in the ocean (and did so annually for many years). At age four, while visiting Kona with them, I encountered the ocean for the first time and fell instantly, deeply in love. That passion has only had one rupture during my lifetime. During a snorkeling trip, my mask fogged up; after finding a sand bar to stand on, I removed my mask and cleaned it. Yet right after dipping my head in the water again, I glimpsed a black, spiked, nightmarish creature. I’d never seen anything like it before, and my fight or flight response kicked in: I swam to shore in a frightened frenzy! That panic seems humorous now—especially since, over time, that fear of unusual sea animals has transformed into an equally potent but positive emotion: fascination. To enhance my ability to meet those creatures on their own turf, soon after turning twelve, I took a PADI scuba diving class. My long-term goal was to become certified for scuba diving in open water. I completed my certification in a geothermal lake near the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. From ages eight to sixteen, I was a competitive swimmer, so I was extremely powerful in the water: as a result, the dive instructor partnered me with a six-foot tall, 300-pound man to tow across the lake during our life-saving session! Those skills have come in handy over the years, because my aunt and grandmother continued taking me to a wide array of islands and bodies of water. Each trip taught me something new and exciting about the ocean; for example, when we visited St. Croix, as my aunt and I snorkeled over one of the many beautiful reefs, we encountered a spectacular sight: a shelf break. The sight was captivating, especially because we had been warned not to go near it; I became eager to learn more about what lived beyond that mysterious darker, beckoning drop. My lifetime goal, therefore, is to learn more about marine science, engage in related research, and eventually work in a profession that would enable me to enjoy, protect, and save oceans of the world and their inhabitants. Although I’ve been fortunate to swim in the Pacific, Atlantic, and Caribbean oceans, visit aquariums in six states, swim competitively for almost a decade, and scuba dive in a geothermal lake—I still dream of spending a lifetime visiting and researching those watery worlds and more. In addition, since I love to teach and have extensive experience as a trainer and tutor, I’m excited to educate others about protecting oceans: so that we can enjoy their bounty and make certain that all marine life forms will continue thriving and enriching our world.