Scholarship Essays
In my opinion, service learning can sometimes be even more important than classroom learning. This is so because sometimes, most times in today’s society, book learning just isn’t enough. You have to know how to deal with people from all walks of life, and you can’t get that from textbooks. Moreover, through service learning, you don’t just learn the sugarcoated facts in the history books. You learn all of the nitty gritty detail - usually in detail. For example, when taking an economics class, the homeless are sure to be mentioned. Yes, you learn the statistics of how many homeless there are in the United States and how much of a drain they put onto our economy, but until you actually work in a soup kitchen or in Mana House to feed those same homeless, you’ll never really understand. That’s really what service learning is all about. Understanding exactly who those homeless people are. Yes, they’re homeless, but they’re also people. Most people, when they pass a homeless person on the street, keep walking. I can guarantee you, however, that if regular people understood or even knew the people underneath the homeless veneer, and knew what those people went through, those same regular people would stop and at least ask, “Is there anything I can do for you?”
Right now, I volunteer daily at my local animal shelter (Paws to the Rescue Animal Shelter, previously the Marion County Animal Shelter). Since November 2007, I have accumulated over 300 volunteer hours. Still, every time I tell people that I volunteer at the shelter, they invariably ask me what I’m doing community service for. It seemingly boggles the mind that I could possibly (just possibly, mind you) be volunteering because I want to. It boggles my mind that other people don’t want to volunteer. At the shelter, I do a variety of tasks including: cleaning cat cages, feeding the animals, walking dogs, playing with the animals, de-worming the animals, ferrying animals back and forth from the veterinary office, mopping the floors, and even some secretarial duties for the director of the shelter, Jen Nall. As my future career goals will inevitably include animals of some sort, these tasks and my service learning are invaluable. Some public service activities I envision pursuing include continuing my work at animal shelters, working in soup kitchens, possibly mentoring at a Boys’ and Girls’ Club, and (if I can somehow manage it) volunteering at an orphanage. I want to do these things because I honestly like doing them - I like helping animals, I like helping people, and I want to help kids whether they have a home to go to or not.
These essays were written for the McNair Scholarship, and are both around 418 words.