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Making a Difference This School Year
September 2004
By: Vanessa
What comes to your mind when thinking of going back to school? ...do you see yourself equipping with new shoes, new clothes and new accessories that will make you shine out in the hallway? ...are you thinking of getting the latest music technology to make everyone in the classroom envy your taste for modernity? ... Or do you envision yourself looking for volunteer positions this school year?
Ok, maybe for some of the readers out there the last comment sounded as a geeks-with-no-life-activity, but have you ever attempted it? If you haven't, then keep on reading to see if you change your mind about the world of volunteering.
Just a few years ago, I was a quiet girl centered merely on school marks, sports and friends. One day my brother told me to join the Red Cross Club at my school. I hesitated to enter the association since I was too busy with school work to be involved at any club; however, my mother insisted me to accompany my brother.
When I entered the club I soon started doing some beneficial work for the community.
I remember quite vividly volunteering for a Food Drive at my school; in this event I became inspired by the energy and enthusiasm put into it. Thus, I decided to continue volunteering at the club. Volunteering started to appear less of a "geeky-activity" and more as a motivating and rewarding experience.
During my grade eleven year I was elected Vice-President of the club. Yes, I, the girl who used to be hide in the corner so the teachers wouldn't ask me questions in class.
That same year I had the opportunity to visit and help my home-land, Mexico. Along with the luggage I took, there were toys the club had collected for deprived children. When I arrived to Cunduacan, a remote area of the country, the conditions in which the children were in was depressing; they walked in the muddy terrain with their shoe-less feet, and with their stomachs inflated with parasites. However, when the toys were handed to them, their suffering seemed to be temporarily cured. The smiles I obtained in return were priceless.
The close contact with poverty made me reflect of the commodities I enjoy in Canada. Thus, when I returned to Canada I decided to talk to the school personnel about promoting volunteering. Soon arrived the chance to make a presentation in front of the 500 students, administration and teaching staff to talk about activating the volunteer opportunities at the school. To tell you the truth I felt I was going to faint during my exposition, however, somehow I managed to do it well. At the end of the slow agony, the teachers and the principals clapped at the presentation, making a feeling of triumph come to my soul. I had finally had broken the chains of introversion.
Presently, I am no longer afraid to talk in front of a multitude of people; I actually have become acclimated to being in the limelight. Definitely, volunteering has changed my life a 180 degrees.
Hopefully, it will be the same for you; therefore, this school year, instead of staying at home chatting on msn 24-7, or doing TV surfing marathons, or spending endless hours at the mall, get yourself involved in the community! You will be benefiting others while helping yourself.
After all as Forest E. Withcraft once said: "one hundred years from now, it will not matter what kind of car [you] drove, what kind of house [you] lived in, or how much money [you] had in the bank, but [what will matter will be that] the world may be a better place because [you] made a difference".
Here are some interesting websites to visit:
The views expressed in the following text do not necessarily match the views of this site or the Government of Canada.
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