I have been involved in caring for my grandfather who had Parkinson's disease and dementia for the past four years, but more specifically the past year and a half that he and my grandmother moved in with my parents and I to help with his care. Every day taking care of him looked different. Sometimes I made sure he stayed in the house when his dementia was telling him he was not at home when in reality he was. Sometimes I pushed him in his wheelchair so he could move around and go outside when he wanted to. Other times I just needed to talk to him and keep his mind on something other than his current circumstances. Every night I would feed my papa his dinner. It became hard for him to hold silverware and get the food in his mouth on his own. He would not let anyone help him eat except for me and one caregiver we hired to help for a few hours a few days a week. When his condition worsened he became bed-bound for the last two weeks of his life. During that time I fed him everything he ate and drank. He immediately brightened up when I came into his room and would try to talk with me even if no words came out. My papa passed away in October. My experience in helping care for him has made me gain a heart for elderly people. I am looking for ways to impact the elderly people in my community now. I took a few months to grieve and now I am excited to bring joy to people around me.

Since I was a little girl people around me always asked what I wanted to be when I grew up. For most of my life, I came up with an answer on the spot, because I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life as an adult. When I was sixteen years old that changed for me. I became more involved in serving foster children and realized that I wanted to be an advocate for them. When doing some research, I learned about the role of a case manager in a foster child’s life. A case manager sees their caseload of foster children one to two times a month. They check in on the kids, go to court with them, and help them grow in their new environment. After learning all these things, I knew that case management for foster children would be a great job for me. Two years later, I am currently a high school senior preparing for college. I participate in Liberty University Online Academy. I have been homeschooled since 2nd grade and involved in LUOA since 9th grade. This year I am also an online dual-enrollment student at Truett McConnell University. Dual enrollment has allowed me to experience some of the workloads I will have in college soon. I have been accepted into three colleges. They are Shorter University, University of West Georgia, and Truett McConnell University. The reason I was interested in these colleges is that they offer programs that will allow me to work in my desired field. Shorter University is currently my top choice. They offer a human services degree that will give me the tools I need to serve the foster children I meet after I graduate from college. The University of West Georgia and Truett McConnell University both have psychology programs that I am interested in as well. My goal after graduating from college is to work for a few years and then return to school to get a master’s degree in social work. The main way I plan on making a positive impact on the world is by advocating for children in the foster care system. They need an advocate by their side as they go through the ups and downs of being in foster care. I feel that by helping children who are in need, if done well, will help them become better adults in the future. By investing in the next generation we create a better future for ourselves and others.

I enjoy every opportunity I have to serve others. I volunteer at the preschool and children’s ministry at my church. My role there is to lead children’s worship and manage childcare in the preschool area on a bi-weekly basis. I also help lead worship at my church every month for the congregation. This is a new role that I took on just a few months ago but I plan on continuing until I leave for college. The main way I serve my community is by volunteering with a local private foster care agency. I volunteer at the date nights, which are monthly events at churches where foster parents drop off their children to get a break for a few hours. I have helped take care of children in rooms grouped by age. However, over the last several months I have gained a new role of helping plan activities for the children at date night and recruiting volunteers ahead of time. We usually have anywhere between forty to fifty children attend date night every month. I also make sure that every room has what they need for a successful night each month. I have also helped make birthday bags for the children in the agency's care. Birthday bags are big tote bags we fill up with gifts for each foster child’s birthday. My role is to go to the store and pick out gifts and organize them for each child. These are all ways to affect positive change in my community, specifically in children's lives.

Since I was a little girl people around me always asked what I wanted to be when I grew up. For most of my life, I came up with an answer on the spot, because I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life as an adult. When I was sixteen years old that changed for me. I became more involved in serving foster children and realized that I wanted to be an advocate for them. When doing some research, I learned about the role of a case manager in a foster child’s life. A case manager sees their caseload of foster children one to two times a month. They check in on the kids, go to court with them, and help them grow in their new environment. After learning all these things, I knew that case management for foster children would be a great job for me. Two years later, I am currently a high school senior preparing for college. I participate in Liberty University Online Academy. I have been homeschooled since 2nd grade and involved in LUOA since 9th grade. This year I am also an online dual-enrollment student at Truett McConnell University. Dual enrollment has allowed me to experience some of the workload I will have in college soon. I have been accepted into three colleges. They are Shorter University, University of West Georgia, and Truett McConnell University. The reason I was interested in these colleges is that they offer programs that will allow me to work in my desired field. Shorter University is currently my top choice. They offer a human services degree that will give me the tools I need to serve the foster children I meet after I graduate from college. The University of West Georgia and Truett McConnell University both have psychology programs that I am interested in as well. My goal after graduating from college is to work for a few years and then return to school to get a master’s degree in social work. This is because I want to gain as many tools as possible from college to be the best social worker possible. I also have a heart for geriatric social work. My grandfather struggled with Parkinson's disease for the last four years of his life and had dementia for the last two as well. He had a social worker on his care team and I watched how she provided resources for him that helped him be the best version of himself for the last six months of his life that she was involved in. I believe that I can make a positive impact on my community through my social services career because I will be advocating for children who need help. The positive impact I will be making is keeping children in safe and loving homes while working to provide what is best for them. No matter what every child is a blessing and they should each be treated like one.