Providing service to others has been some of the most rewarding and engaging work I have ever had the pleasure of participating in. I deeply believe that supporting people through hardships is a vital responsibility that each able person should contribute. The majority of my service has been providing mental and emotional support at the individual level.

My first experience with service was volunteering with a local church to provide aftercare childcare for low-income children whose parents were unable to afford paid childcare. Tutoring, playing, and mentoring those kids taught me many lessons, including how fulfilling service could be. I realized that I had a set of skills that were effective at meeting the childrens’ various needs. Finally, and most importantly, it taught me that kids are extremely resilient, capable of enduring unimaginable hardship when they know that one person believes in them.

Next, I joined a unique program that took a new approach to suicide prevention in Portland, Oregon. Oregon Youthline trains teenagers to provide peer-to-peer youth crisis and support to people all over the world. People could email, text, call, or chat me to talk through whatever crisis they were experiencing. Youthline opened my eyes to the endless challenging experiences that kids my age and younger were facing and provided me a small but significant opportunity to support them. I learned how to rapidly adapt my approach towards supporting a client depending on the various particular needs and personalities reaching out to me. I also learned how to support my fellow Youthline volunteers when they encountered difficulty, and how important it is to reach out for help when you need it. Youthline taught me an essential lesson: all peoples' crises demand attention and support, no matter how small or insignificant they may feel it to be.

For over five years, I volunteered at a summer camp called Camp Yakety Yak designed for children with special needs. The camp’s goal is to provide an authentic summer camp experience for a-typical kids who are usually excluded from mainstream childcare programs. Over the course of seven years, I progressed from a beginning high-school volunteer into a class instructor, provider of one to one aid to high risk kids, volunteer trainer, and leader of a specialized team to support campers with the greatest needs. The camp allowed me to help hundreds of kids enjoy a spectacular experience along with providing me a dynamic opportunity to demonstrate my leadership, empathy, and creativeness.