Community service has always been ingrained in my life and has been an ever-present source of inspiration. When I was nine, I followed my sister every weekend to Sunrise Senior Living, a nursing home she volunteered at, where I, too, led morning exercises and dances, Sunday newspaper readings, bingo, and trivia. What started as a younger sibling’s childish desire to mirror the actions of his older sibling turned out to instill this value of connecting to the community at a young age – a turn of events that I am grateful for. Community service provides unique experiences and takeaways that can’t be gained elsewhere. My fulfilling first experience at Sunrise taught me some of the most rewarding aspects of service work: the boost in self-esteem from developing a greater sense of purpose and having possibly made a difference in someone’s world as one individual, all the inspiringly positive people you get to meet along the way, and a strengthened bond to the community. For me, the start of it all only encouraged my enthusiastic spirit in taking on various other activities. Such projects ranged from volunteering to help prepare handcrafts for Day of the Dead celebrations at the cultural institution, El Museo del Barrio, at age 10, revitalizing New York’s public schools for New York Cares Day, joining food rescue events for Rescuing Leftover Cuisine to provide meals to the homeless and needy while reducing local food waste, to proudly achieving my first Red Cross Pediatric and Adult First Aid, CPR, and AED certification at age 12. I have since committed to this principle of giving back and have continually tapped into my passion for actively volunteering in and out of the classroom. Most recently, as a high school student, I have volunteered at my local elementary school as an assistant teacher to provide academic and social support to the children in the afterschool program and am currently tutoring students from low-income families in math over Zoom as part of the Brain Food Program, a virtual volunteering project. Within school walls, I have actively participated in extracurriculars that allow me to raise awareness for social and environmental causes I support. As part of the Environmental Club, I helped promote school-wide campaigns to raise awareness for waste reduction and energy conservation, with efforts like promoting ink cartridge recycling throughout the school and planning fundraisers for wildfire relief. I have also helped organize Key Club’s local Breast Cancer Awareness marathon and school blood drive. As part of the Computer Club, I have been helping friends with coding in C++ and our new members in getting a grasp of the concept of programming through use of basic models such as Scratch and Microsoft Visual Basic. As part of the Math League and Science League, I helped peers with their math, physics, and chemistry homework, and during the period of remote learning, I helped an underclassman prepare for AMC 10/12 via Zoom. Though all these efforts are small acts and may have been carried out as part of different local groups and different times, I can proudly claim that these efforts are collectively my greatest achievement to date. When asked to define myself, my sense of belonging, and what drives me, I would say it is this community and local groups I work with that constantly fuel my desire to become a better person and has soft influence over the decisions I make regarding my future. Without question, it has also helped mold my future aspirations to study engineering in college. I wish to pursue a lifelong career in using math and science to figure out how we design everyday things that directly impact people and, ultimately, work to improve the quality of life for our extended community, specifically in the development of sustainable energy sources. By studying the subject of clean energy on a higher education level and by fully taking advantage of the hands-on, project-based learning opportunities at a college facility, I wish to ultimately pursue a career in engineering in renewables, to incite change and impact society in a transformative way.

In my local community, our country, and the world around me, I wish to see more and more recognition and acknowledgement that we are all part of one large extended community; and that, ultimately, volunteering to step up and help others in the community is not a completely selfless act. Being active in one’s community is a rewarding learning experience, with much to gain from. Personally, community service has always been ingrained in my life and has been an ever-present source of inspiration. When I was nine, I followed my sister every weekend to Sunrise Senior Living, a nursing home she volunteered at, where I, too, led morning exercises and dances, Sunday newspaper readings, bingo, and trivia. What started as a younger sibling’s childish desire to mirror the actions of his older sibling turned out to instill this value of connecting to the community at a young age – a turn of events that I am grateful for. Community service provides unique experiences and takeaways that can’t be gained elsewhere. My fulfilling first experience at Sunrise taught me some of the most rewarding aspects of service work: the boost in self-esteem from developing a greater sense of purpose and having possibly made a difference in someone’s world as one individual, all the inspiringly positive people you get to meet along the way, and a strengthened bond to the community. For me, the start of it all only encouraged my enthusiastic spirit in taking on various other activities. Such projects ranged from volunteering to help prepare handcrafts for Day of the Dead celebrations at the cultural institution, El Museo del Barrio, at age 10, revitalizing New York’s public schools for New York Cares Day, joining food rescue events for Rescuing Leftover Cuisine to provide meals to the homeless and needy while reducing local food waste, to proudly achieving my first Red Cross Pediatric and Adult First Aid, CPR, and AED certification at age 12. I have since committed to this principle of giving back and have continually tapped into my passion for actively volunteering in and out of the classroom. Most recently, as a high school student, I have volunteered at my local elementary school as an assistant teacher to provide academic and social support to the children in the afterschool program and am currently tutoring students from low-income families in math over Zoom as part of the Brain Food Program, a virtual volunteering project. Within school walls, I have actively participated in extracurriculars that allow me to raise awareness for social and environmental causes I support. As part of the Environmental Club, I helped promote school-wide campaigns to raise awareness for waste reduction and energy conservation, with efforts like promoting ink cartridge recycling throughout the school and planning fundraisers for wildfire relief. I have also helped organize Key Club’s local Breast Cancer Awareness marathon and school blood drive. As part of the Computer Club, I have been helping friends with coding in C++ and our new members in getting a grasp of the concept of programming through use of basic models such as Scratch and Microsoft Visual Basic. As part of the Math League and Science League, I helped peers with their math, physics, and chemistry homework, and during the period of remote learning, I helped an underclassman prepare for AMC 10/12 via Zoom. Though all these efforts may have been carried out as part of different local groups, all the inspiring people I have met within said groups ultimately share the same values and passion for service work, and so when asked to define myself, my sense of belonging, and what drives me, I proudly claim my place here in what I collectively see as one large extended community. It is this community that constantly fuels my desire to become a better person and has soft influence over the decisions I make regarding my future. Without question, it has also helped mold my future aspirations to study engineering in college. I wish to pursue a lifelong career in using math and science to figure out how we design everyday things that directly impact people and, ultimately, work to improve the quality of life for our extended community, specifically in the development of sustainable energy sources. By studying the subject of clean energy on a higher education level and by fully taking advantage of the hands-on, project-based learning opportunities at a college facility, I wish to ultimately pursue a career in engineering in renewables, to incite change and impact society in a transformative way. I strongly believe my goals and aspirations have been shaped and inspired by knowing the value of community and what an active voice and spirit can achieve. I hope for more people to share this mindset, so we can all incite positive changes in the world, be it small or large!

Community service has always been ingrained in my life and has been an ever-present source of inspiration. When I was nine, I followed my sister every weekend to Sunrise Senior Living, a nursing home she volunteered at, where I, too, led morning exercises and dances, Sunday newspaper readings, bingo, and trivia. What started as a younger sibling’s childish desire to mirror the actions of his older sibling turned out to instill this value of connecting to the community at a young age – a turn of events that I am grateful for. Community service provides unique experiences and takeaways that can’t be gained elsewhere. My fulfilling first experience at Sunrise taught me some of the most rewarding aspects of service work: the boost in self-esteem from developing a greater sense of purpose and having possibly made a difference in someone’s world as one individual, and all the inspiringly positive people you get to meet along the way. The start of it all only encouraged my enthusiastic spirit in taking on various other activities. Such projects ranged from volunteering to help prepare handcrafts for Day of the Dead celebrations at the cultural institution, El Museo del Barrio, at age 10, revitalizing New York’s public schools for New York Cares Day, rescuing leftover cuisine for food banks to provide meals to the homeless and needy while reducing local food waste, to proudly achieving my first Red Cross Pediatric and Adult First Aid, CPR, and AED certification at age 12. I have since committed to this principle of giving back and, as a student, have continually tapped into my passion for volunteering through extracurriculars in and out of the classroom that allow me to raise awareness for social and environmental causes I believe in. Though all these efforts may have been carried out from different local groups, all the inspiring people I have met within said groups ultimately share the same values and passion for service work, and so when asked to define myself, my sense of belonging, and what drives me, I proudly claim my place here in what I collectively see as one large community. It is this community that constantly fuels my desire to become a better person and has soft influence over the decisions I make regarding my future. Without question, it has also helped mold my future aspirations to study engineering in college. I wish to pursue a lifelong career in using math and science to figure out how we design everyday things that directly impact people and, ultimately, work to improve the quality of life for our extended community, specifically in the development of sustainable energy sources. By studying the subject of clean energy on a higher education level and by fully taking advantage of the hands-on, project-based learning opportunities at a college facility, I wish to ultimately pursue a career in engineering in renewables, to incite change and impact society in a transformative way.