Volunteering has always been an extremely important and influential aspect of my life. I was raised in a family with a culture centered on volunteering, and as a result, I have been volunteering my entire life. My parents both own small businesses, which has allowed them to have the flexibility to dedicate the majority of their time to volunteering and giving back to the local community. They’ve always felt that it is more important to prioritize helping others, rather than prioritizing their own monetary or financial gain. Their unwavering commitment to community service and volunteer work has undeniably shaped my upbringing, instilling in me a deep sense of compassion and a strong desire to help others. However, this commitment has also led to a tight financial situation for my family, impacting my educational journey. With their limited income, my parents have selflessly channeled their time and resources towards charitable endeavors and benefiting the community, leaving little financial funds for my college tuition and living expenses. Consequently, I have taken on the primary responsibility of funding my own college tuition and expenses. While it has been challenging, I am grateful for the invaluable life lessons I have gained through this experience, teaching me the importance of hard work, resourcefulness, and the significance of giving back to the community. Volunteering has shaped my mindset more than any other experience in my life. When I was younger, volunteering was so ingrained in my family's culture, that it was always something that was expected of me. I spent my childhood volunteering at my family's church, helping with everything from the Vacation Bible School program that my parents organized to the church's monthly food pantry program. After I started playing soccer, I began to spend a lot of my time volunteering at the local soccer club. I volunteered in any way that I could, helping with field maintenance, working in the concession stand, helping out with various camps, and training referees. In high school, I also volunteered to help coordinate the kid's area of a local community festival and began doing graphic design and fundraising for nonprofits. While volunteering was expected of me in my childhood, it wasn’t until I was older, that I truly understood and appreciated that it is a privilege to be able to volunteer. Volunteering allowed me to see the challenges, struggles, and inequalities that others go through every day. These experiences not only emphasized the importance of being empathetic, understanding, and compassionate, but also allowed me to see that not everyone has the ability, time, access, or resources to help others. Volunteering taught me that even the smallest acts of kindness can have the biggest impact on someone else's life. I now consider myself lucky to have the ability and privilege to volunteer, help others, and give back to the community in any way that I can. My home is in Pennsylvania, but I'm currently a sophomore at Flagler College where I am majoring in Strategic Communications and Digital Media. I'd love to work for a professional soccer team someday. I hope to also use my degree and skills to make a difference in my community. This scholarship would help me stay in school and graduate on time.

Volunteering has always been an extremely important and influential aspect of my life. I was raised in a family with a culture centered on volunteering, and as a result, I have been volunteering my entire life. My parent’s both own small businesses, which has allowed them to have the flexibility to dedicate the majority of their time to volunteering and giving back to the local community. They’ve always felt that it is more important to prioritize helping others, rather than prioritizing their own monetary or financial gain. Their unwavering commitment to community service and volunteer work has undeniably shaped my upbringing, instilling in me a deep sense of compassion and a strong desire to help others. However, this commitment has also led to a tight financial situation for my family, impacting my educational journey. With their limited income, my parents have selflessly channeled their time and resources towards charitable endeavors and benefiting the community, leaving little financial funds for my college tuition and living expenses. Consequently, I have taken on the primary responsibility of funding my own college tuition and expenses. While it has been challenging, I am grateful for the invaluable life lessons I have gained through this experience, teaching me the importance of hard work, resourcefulness, and the significance of giving back to the community. Volunteering has shaped my mindset more than any other experience in my life. When I was younger, volunteering was so ingrained in my family's culture, that it was always something that was expected of me. I spent my childhood volunteering at my family's church, helping with everything from the Vacation Bible School program that my parents organized to the church's monthly food pantry program. After I started playing soccer, I began to spend a lot of my time volunteering at the local soccer club. I volunteered in any way that I could, helping with field maintenance, working in the concession stand, helping out with various camps, and training referees. In high school, I also volunteered to help coordinate the kid's area of a local community festival and began doing graphic design and fundraising for nonprofits. While volunteering was expected of me in my childhood, it wasn’t until I was older, that I truly understood and appreciated that it is a privilege to be able to volunteer. Volunteering allowed me to see the challenges, struggles, and inequalities that other’s go through every day. These experiences not only emphasized the importance of being empathetic, understanding, and compassionate, but also allowed me to see that not everyone has the ability, time, access, or resources to help others. Volunteering taught me that even the smallest acts of kindness can have the biggest impact on someone else's life. I now consider myself lucky to have the ability and privilege to volunteer, help others, and give back to the community in any way that I can.

Volunteering has always been an extremely important and influential aspect of my life. I was raised in a family with a culture centered around volunteering, and as a result, I have been volunteering my entire life. My parent’s both own small businesses, which has allowed them to have the flexibility to dedicate the majority of their time to volunteering and giving back to the local community. They’ve always felt that it is more important to prioritize helping others, rather than prioritizing their own monetary or financial gain. Their unwavering commitment to community service and volunteer work has undeniably shaped my upbringing, instilling in me a deep sense of compassion and a strong desire to help others. However, this commitment has also led to a tight financial situation for my family, impacting my educational journey. With their limited income, my parents have selflessly channeled their time and resources towards charitable endeavors and benefiting the community, leaving little financial funds for my college tuition and living expenses. Consequently, I have taken on the primary responsibility of funding my own college tuition and expenses. While it has been challenging, I am grateful for the invaluable life lessons I have gained through this experience, teaching me the importance of hard work, resourcefulness, and the significance of giving back to the community. Volunteering has shaped my mindset more than any other experience in my life. When I was younger, volunteering was so ingrained in my family's culture, that it was always something that was expected of me. I spent my childhood volunteering at my family's church, helping with everything from the Vacation Bible School program that my parents organized to the church's monthly food pantry program. After I started playing soccer, I began to spend a lot of my time volunteering at the local soccer club. I volunteered in any way that I could, helping with field maintenance, working in the concession stand, helping out with various camps, and training referees. In high school, I also volunteered to help coordinate the kid's area of a local community festival and began doing graphic design and fundraising for nonprofits. While volunteering was expected of me in my childhood, it wasn’t until I was older, that I truly understood and appreciated that it is a privilege to be able to volunteer. Volunteering allowed me to see the challenges, struggles, and inequalities that other’s go through every day. These experiences not only emphasized the importance of being empathetic, understanding, and compassionate, but also allowed me to see that not everyone has the ability, time, access, or resources to help others. Volunteering taught me that even the smallest acts of kindness can have the biggest impact on someone else's life. I now consider myself lucky to have the ability and privilege to volunteer, help others, and give back to the community in any way that I can.

The dream version of my future self has graduated from college with a degree in Strategic Communications and Digital Media Production and is working in Public Relations for a professional soccer club.

I’m from Mars. Really. There’s a spaceship in the middle of my hometown. NASA comes to visit, and we celebrate New Year in the middle of the summer. The Mayor of Mars wears an astronaut suit and performs weddings at the spaceship. I know this all sounds strange, but I promise it is all very true. Mars, Pennsylvania is the only town in the United States named Mars, and it’s where I have lived my entire life. The town has completely embraced its namesake. It is filled with space-themed businesses, alien mascots, and there is even a UFO statue in the middle of our town square. Living in such a unique community makes it really easy to give back. I’ve always been really passionate about education, specifically STEAM education. I’ve been on a robotics team for the past four years. Through my robotics team, I’ve been able to do a lot to share STEAM education with the community, including coordinating events and community festivals. Last summer I had the opportunity to coordinate the KidZone for our Mars New Year Festival, which is a STEAM-themed community festival. It is a huge celebration filled with thousands of people, STEAM displays, Robotics, presentations from STEAM professionals, and even a Drone Show! I fundraised $2,000, so that we could offer all of the kids events for free, booked attractions, recruited volunteers, and oversaw the entire kids area for the 2 day event. Recently, I was able to work with a missionary family in South Sudan in order to help them bring more STEAM education to their country. This experience helped me understand how extremely important education is. As the Marketing and Outreach lead for the team, my main focus is making sure that the Arts don’t get left out of STEAM. I have always been very passionate about Arts education. My passion for community service comes from my family. Volunteering has always been a part of my family culture. My parents have been volunteering in the community for my entire life, and have always brought me along. Even was I was very young, I always helped where I could. Growing up, I always spent the majority of my summer helping my parents with our church’s Vacation Bible School program or volunteering at our local Soccer Club. Now, volunteering is just something I do naturally. One of my goals is to go to college to study Communications Media. Throughout high school, I have been the Outreach and Marketing lead for the Mars Robotics Association. I’ve gained a lot of experience through robotics, and I’ve loved all of the communications related work I’ve been able to do. One of the highlights was doing writing, editing, filming, and producing for the speaker series we created. I’ve also gotten to do a lot of graphic design and some advertising and product development, which has been a lot of fun too. I’m very excited for the new opportunities that college will provide for me.