Name: Georgia Elizabeth Workman
From: Clover, South Carolina
Votes: 0
2 Workman
Georgia Workman
Youth Forward
16 October 2018
Stellie Jackson Enrichment Center was introduced to me through my
mother when she received an email regarding it and said to me, “This
would look great on your college application.” I agreed it would
look great, so I called Mrs. Jackson and spoke to her about
volunteering at her enrichment center over the summer of 2017. She
was immediately thrilled and began to explain to me that her
enrichment center offered students in elementary schools help after
school and over the summer. Something that started as just another
thing to write on my college applications sparked a passion inside of
me before the first day.
I pulled into the parking lot of the Enrichment center when around five
children’s smiling faces greeted me. Mrs. Jackson then began the
lesson by doing a bible story and then we moved onto a music lesson.
During these times when she was teaching I watched the children and
helped if I saw any of them struggling. Then we moved into individual
tutoring time. I was paired up with a young man who was in the third
grade and homeschooled. We began by reading a book of his choice
everyday, then we moved into a math lesson, and finally his favorite
part, a science lesson.
Every Tuesday and Thursday of that summer I would wake up excited to teach
these young people for four hours a day totaling at around 80 hours.
Though I do admit that not all times were as rewarding as others. My
student consistently challenged me as to what I was going to teach
him next as well as encouraging him to finish his work on days where
he did not have the will to try. I began to watch this young man
flourish into a much better student than he was before coming into
the enrichment center. I found myself going home and immediately
telling my mom how proud I was that I was doing something that was
benefitting other children. I learned how to be patient and how to
teach to young children this of which feeds into my career choice of
Speech Pathology. I truly believe that my volunteering benefited the
children I was working with and if I checked on them in a couple
years I am sure that they are doing much better in school because of
my volunteering.
“Forward-looking” means progressing and building on something bigger than the previous
thing. My volunteering is “forward-looking” by building on my
experience with children and a step towards my career choice. I
believe if everyone had the opportunity to volunteer to benefit
others I truly believe everyone would be so much happier. I will
strive to connect to others and introduce the joy of volunteering
because it changed my life!
