Last updated: December 1, 2024
This statement was included in my 2024 application for the Barrett Fleming Award. It is a response to the prompt, "Explain how volunteering has shaped you as a student leader."
We all have intentions to be more charitable and to volunteer our time and attention in the service of others. Most of my peers have a desire to volunteer but don't know how to get started. The most common barrier is that volunteer organizations they reach out to never get back to them. Another is that volunteering sometimes require volunteer references, which can be hard to get if you haven't volunteered before! As a volunteer, I can help my peers circumnavigate these barriers by inviting them to participate and contribute alongside me.
You can't volunteer and not consider yourself a leader. To me, leadership is leading by example. So when I volunteer it's to role model to my peers that they can prioritize charity now. There is this false belief that you need to help yourself before you help others, like oxygen masks on a plane. So many people spend their lives acquiring skills, building their resume and "getting ahead" all so that may reciprocate their good fortune later. This belief is backwards. This is not how communities are built and wealth is shared. We should all learn to give before we take. Through volunteering, I do my best to model this lesson.