Excerpts from Paula Shay’s winning essay for the Community Involvement portion of the 2015 Building A Better World Scholarship. 2015 BBW Winners. Please go here to learn of Paula’s successful challenge of the OHS graduation dress code.
National Honors’ Society – “Personally, my eyes were closed for my first two years because of the adjustments happening in my personal life but being accepted into the National Honors Society in my Junior year opened me up to the idea and the importance of volunteering and community involvement. Through my outreach into the community through tutoring and helping and just being there I have grown as a person and seen so many things that have just humbled me in the deepest sense.”
The effects of poverty – “While helping tutor students on the elementary and middle school level I have seen the poverty that is one of the underlying characteristic of our community first hand. Students that don’t have shoes that fit right anymore and have no money to purchase new ones. Students that don’t have anyone to talk to about their dreams or fears because mom and dad have to work all the time. I have seen it all and worked with these students in the hopes of bettering their lives, even just a little by having someone to talk to.”
My Plan – “After graduation I plan on attending Western Michigan University and pursuing volunteer opportunities such as knitting hats and scarves for the homeless with my colleague Dominique Jessen and volunteering my time in local animal shelters to help animals find the perfect forever home. I know it doesn’t sound like a lot but it will mean a lot to the homeless and for the animals and for the new owners of the animals. Once I become financially stable and can do more, I will. Maybe I might work with Dominique on creating a nonprofit organization or something else along those lines. No matter what it is I plan on majoring in or where I go in this wide world I plan on volunteering to make my community, my world, a better place to live in.”
