“When it comes down to it, it’s not about what you have or even what you’ve accomplished in life…it’s about who you’ve lifted up, who you’ve made better. It’s about what you’ve given back.”
I remember so many of my classmates would try to find hacks to get around the requirements without actually doing any community service. I never understood why they would go through so much trouble to NOT give back…the joke was on them. By the time my senior year rolled around, I had amassed more than 100 volunteer hours at local schools, hospitals and animal clinics. I had completed an additional 25 hours of clean-ups and had finished a marathon per year for charity. I had also donated $100 to a scholarship fund, which as a high school student working a part-time minimum wage job was a small fortune. All of those fulfilling experiences I had in high school influenced the rest of my life in ways I never thought imaginable. Giving back is a big part of my life then, now and forever. And I can’t imagine it any other way.
