People often say you cannot choose your family, however, the people you choose to surround yourself with are the ones who truly become your family. I started playing rugby just over a year ago and I have honestly found what it means to be in a chosen family. We met each other for the first time the night before our summer training camp. While we were hesitant to talk, that did not last for long. By the second night, we were planning what night of the week to have family dinners and forming inside jokes. Now eight months later, we are signing rental agreements to live together. It's easy for me to become emotional when talking about these girls, but I know that these women love me not despite who I am but because they love me because of who I am. On the days that I feel I am at my worst, these women are my biggest cheerleaders. It's not just for me its every person who is a part of this team. We all know that one of us succeeding is all of us succeeding so we will always be the ones cheering loudest in the stands whether it's presenting research or orchestra performance. It's not just the girls I play with that make up our rugby family, it is also our coach. Coach Scott will always be in our corner. She will find us the tutor we need, bring us dinner, and tell us just how much of a badass we are both on and off the pitch. She is our rugby mom and she wants us to have the best and be the best we can be. A lesson she repeats often is one that I have taken to heart. In society, we women are taught not to take up space. We are told to be small physically and emotionally all the time. However, we deserve all the space we take up. In career, training, and the pitch, our coach pushes up to take up more space in becoming a leader, lifting heavier, and taking the pitch as our own. The trust we place in each other on and off the pitch is incredibly strong. I know that in any time of need, there will always be someone there for me just as I am there for each of them. If my car breaks down, I know Emmy will come to pick me up with one phone call. Amber carried my bags into my house after I broke my leg in an All-Stars Tournament. Alexis will show up to a study hall with a batch of freshly baked cookies. I cook family dinner after practice because, at the end of the day, I love these girls with all my heart. While we might not say I love you every day we say it by showing up every day and making sure we are all taken care of and laughing at something stupid every day. We know that our time together as a team is limited but we know that the bonds we have formed will last forever.

Everyone will take some action to serve their community as an individual within it. However, we see that people will take on more responsibility and action to assist their community if the chance to serve is easily accessible. Many undergraduate students looking to go into medicine will seek our volunteering partnerships through programs and establishments they are already familiar with. With few opportunities in every established campus program, many students are forced to overcommit to campus organizations to find these volunteering partnerships. As a student with this exact goal, I find myself turning to familiar surroundings just as many do. My service could mean more than just adding myself to the army of volunteers. The action that I have taken to serve my local community to make a better future was setting up a partnership between my university's Pre-Health Professionals Program and our local food bank, Convoy of Hope. The Pre-Health Professionals Program is an organization on my university's campus that offers information and experience to those looking to enter any sort of health care. Our members range from future registered nurses to future medical doctors and every career in between. All of us look for clinical and volunteering hours, however, it is difficult for individuals to seek these out on their own. In order to help our community, we needed a better system for our students to find and commit to these organizations' efforts. As a group, we have already established an annual blood drive that benefits our community's blood bank but this opportunity comes once a year and there is always more we could do. Thus, we created a partnership with the local food bank. This entails an agreement that we will send volunteers every Tuesday to assist in packing boxes to send out. When the food bank has enough volunteers for their operation, we help with care packages. These care packages are sent out to individuals facing homelessness in our community. This partnership is established for the foreseeable future, so when, I move on our organization will be able to send volunteers to help the Convoy of Hope. My own hand in change is a great step to serve my community but creating a path that will stay open far after I am gone has a much greater impact. As my time at this school continues I hope to create more opportunities and paths for all students to engage in ways to improve our community to create a better future.