As a young adult, serving my community means bridging the gap between high school students and the younger generations. With service comes opportunities to share your experiences and learn from those that you serve. From my experience, age can make it very difficult for younger generations to make connections with people who are older like myself. Likewise, it can be difficult for people who are older and at the high school level to find the curiosity and passion they once had for trying new things and branching out because of everything that they have going on in their lives at this age. From getting to work with younger people, it has become clear to me that the younger generations are eager to absorb and learn new knowledge. As teenagers, taking the opportunity to connect with the younger students in our community can teach us to keep an open mind and get excited to take on something new even though it may seem difficult or scary. As young adults, we can offer proper guidance and encouragement to younger kids. By sharing our knowledge and experiences, we can give them guidance and a sense of community that they can depend on when big changes come their way such as the transitions into middle school and high school. During my junior year, the passion for a sense of community inspired me to take action where I could and focus on the lack of connection between teenagers and younger age groups. I became president of a school club known as Knights that Serve and got approval to change the direction that the club was going. In my new role, I decided to provide members with opportunities that would show them the benefits of interaction with the youth of our community. This year our club hosted Operation Christmas Child at North Lincoln High School in which we packed over 50 boxes filled with toys, hygiene products, and more to give to underprivileged kids. Knights That Serve has been working diligently with the Child Advocacy Center in Lincolnton to raise money to fight child abuse trough volunteering in events like The Price is Right. In this event, members of my club including myself got to participate in carnival games with the kids which not only brought out the best of them but gave us a deeper love for our community. Knights That Serve also plans to work with the East Lincoln Children’s Community Center during April to set up a field day event to welcome in summer. As being the leader of my club, I have been able to witness the benefits of sharing my experiences with the children. Not only have I been able to witness the benefits of my service, but working with these children has brought out the best in me both as a student and as a leader. I have learned how to communicate with many different people, step outside my comfort zone, and build leadership skills through my passion. By engaging with the younger students in my community, I have been able to discover my own unique way of fulfilling what servicel means to me in order to make an impact as a young adult. In college, I hope to explore the various ways in which I can start my own youth service club to create a unique experience for student members and the youth of the community.

A problem that I have become aware of is a lack of commonality between older generations and younger generations. In my community, I see a lack of connection between the different age groups. There are often misperceptions about one another that keep people from forming relationships. In a more global context, I see a lack of connection due to politics and different beliefs as younger generations tend to be more liberal and older generations more conservative. This lack of connection can promote depression, conflict, hatred, and division. Has this society become so shallow that we can’t set aside those things and get to know each other before we judge someone based on appearance or beliefs? During my junior year, this inspired me to take action where I could and focus on the lack of connection between teenagers and younger age groups. I became president of a school club known as Knights that Serve. In my new role, I decided to provide members with opportunities that would show them the benefits of interaction with the youth of our community such as volunteering at our local child advocacy center. I also joined Beta Club my junior year and National Honors Society my senior year. All of these clubs provided me with opportunities to engage with the youth of my community. Through helping out at local elementary schools with field day events and participating in events with our local children’s community center and advocacy center to provide for children in need, I have been able to engage in fun activities and witness the benefits of sharing my experiences with the children. To put this into perspective, teenagers like myself can be a great role model for the younger kids. As teenagers, we have the opportunity to share experience and knowledge in a way that helps the younger generations feel more connected to their community and feel like they have someone they can go to for guidance. During my time in college, I hope to explore the various ways in which I can start my own youth service club to create a unique experience for student members and the youth of the community. I hope that by creating this unique experience for all, I can learn from my fellow student members and the youth of the community on how to become a better leader while also helping others to do the same. I also hope to incorporate my leadership and communication skills into my future career as a biomedical engineer in which I will be dedicated to serving others.

Growing up and throughout my high school career, I found it very interesting to reflect on a science or math class and realize how relevant each subject is to the world around us. I feel a sense of excitement when I get to study a variety of unknown topics that are key to understanding how nature and life itself work and a sense of accomplishment when a complex equation is reduced to a simple solution. As a future college student, I want to further my academic career in science and mathematics, but I also want my interest in community service to play a part in my career. During high school, I joined a club called Knights that Serve. As president of this club, I dedicate the work to members of the community. Last year, we decided to make a basket raffle where the donations would go toward Ukraine relief. Together as a team, we raised over $1400 which was donated to Samaritan’s Purse. The joy of working together for those in need led me to want to pursue a career that genuinely embraced what it means to serve. This passion for community service in combination with my love for science and mathematics led me to want to pursue a career in biomedical engineering in hopes of later going to medical school to further my service and passion together. As I continue to look further into biomedical engineering and ask many college students about their experience in the field, I find that I can use my love for science and mathematics to serve my community in the healthcare field. At the start of my senior year of high school, I wanted to have an idea of how to use the skills I develop in college to make improvements in my community, so I decided to enroll in an emergency medical technician course (EMT). During my training, I spent hours studying different transport devices, life-saving techniques and technology, and equipment apparatuses. I have been able to work with medical technology and apply my skills to emergency medical and trauma situations. Being able to work with technology and apply it to these situations has provided me the opportunity to evaluate the current effectiveness of medical technology and how it can be further improved to help advance life-saving techniques and improve the chances of saving lives. As an engineer, I hope to work to improve the effectiveness of this technology and find new ways to utilize this technology to enhance life-saving procedures. As a future emergency medical technician and engineer, I want to be able to contribute to advancements on the scene and experience them firsthand. I believe that by dedicating my work to these advancements, those who work in the emergency medical system can utilize these developments to have a greater chance of prolonging patient life and overall condition, which in turn I hope will overall improve patient survival rate once they arrive at the appropriate medical facility. As an emergency medical technician, there is only so much one can do to sustain patient life, which is why it’s so critical that there continue to be advancements in healthcare technology. I hope that these advancements will not only improve the chance of patient survival but will also ease the stress of health care and emergency medical professions. I wait for the day when these advancements will improve patient care in Lincoln County, NC, and the overall efficiency of my local EMS department.

Throughout my high school career, I have found my passion through serving the youth of my community. I found this passion when I joined Knights That Serve, a community service club at North Lincoln High School. During that time, I learned countless ways that high school students could be involved in service to their community. During my time as president of the club, my members and I have taken advantage of many opportunities to build relationships and connections among the youth of our community through engaging in activities such as Operation Christmas Child which we were able to organize at North Lincoln High School and pack over 50 boxes for children in need. We have also been able to host a movie drive in which all the proceeds went to our local children’s community center, and we have also just recently been able to partner with the Child Advocacy Center in Lincolnton, NC for their Price is Right event in March of 2023 in which we will be helping organize and help out with fun carnival activities for the children of Lincoln county. As a club we have been able to help out many organizations and learn what it means and takes to truly serve our community; however, our success has come with many great challenges. Growing up, I struggled with Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). ADHD made it difficult to focus and prioritize what needed to get done. This led to forgotten details, deadlines, and social plans. I often found that ADHD made it difficult to manage things properly and efficiently, so when I was asked to become president of Knights that Serve at the end of my junior year, I was sure that I would never be able to do it. Before I could deny the opportunity, the former president asked me to partner with her on the biggest event the club had ever done. We decided to make a basket raffle where the donations would go toward Ukraine relief. I knew I was going to have to step outside of my comfort zone and request donations from local businesses all while ensuring that the finances were done properly and professionally. I was terrified, but what I didn’t realize was that I had all the help I needed and that I wasn’t alone. Realizing this, I decided to follow through with the project, and we ended up raising over $1400 which was then donated to Samaritan’s Purse. I learned that I could do anything I set my mind to and that the only obstacle to my success would be myself. As the current president of Knights That Serve and an excelling student in academics, I still struggle with staying on task more than I would like to admit, but I utilize all the tools at my disposal to overcome these obstacles and succeed. As a growing student, my true passions lie in youth service and academics. Growing up, I have always loved math, science, and hands-on learning experiences. I found my passion in biomedical engineering and decided that I was going to combine my interest in engineering and service to help those in need. I hope that by pursuing a 4-year undergraduate degree, I can develop prosthetics for children and adults in need, or pursue developments in emergency medical technology to advance life-saving procedures. In the future, I hope to grow my work in service through my passion for healthcare and engineering. By doing this, I believe that I can make a difference in the lives of others who are in need.