As humans, we have the power to make an impact on our communities more than we think.
Growing up, I often heard the phrase, “Actions speak louder than words.”
I didn’t realize the true meaning of this phrase until I did my first community service project for Key Club during COVID-19. I was Key Club Vice President at the time, and I remember when my friend, who was the President, suggested that we do a Quarantine Storytime service project.
Through this service project, our mission was to give back to various elementary schools in the area, providing storytime to students during quarantine. My friend and I reached out to various elementary school principals about our project, and soon enough we began to post about the service project on our social media channels.
As I filmed the first clips of my storytime for “Amelia Bedelia,” I felt a strong spark tingling within me. I have experienced only a few moments in this lifetime where I felt this indescribable feeling of passion and accomplishment. A few of these moments include: visiting my tenth country, graduating summa cum laude in high school, getting my acceptance into UCLA, concluding the high school tennis season on a senior night, becoming Key Club president, and this moment – the moment I realized that I didn’t need to have a million followers to make a difference in the community.
I composed the clips in my video editor, and I felt inspired by the members who participated in this service project. Every person had a smile on their face and showed great passion for the community they served. In a time when it felt as if life had no purpose, I found my haven in participating in various service projects and felt my purpose was to help the community out as a leader. As time went on, my high school’s Key Club would get recognized for our service projects and the accumulated service hours we accomplished despite the circumstances of the pandemic.
As activities returned in person, I felt driven to run as my school’s Key Club President. I wanted to be able to make a difference in the community around me. For the first time, as a club, we would be able to start hosting service projects in person again! One of the most memorable service projects that we participated in was contributing to our town’s setup of the tamale festival! I remember when a few members and I pulled up to the local park, where we spent hours socializing while setting up various supplies around.
Ecstatic – that was the word I was looking for. My burning passion for community service grew even stronger that day. I remember the smiles of the volunteers of the event and the feeling of being able to assist in helping a festival come to life. All it takes is a small gesture to change the trajectory of someone or even a whole community’s day.
“Actions speak louder than words,” they said. Let’s step out of our comfort zone and make a difference in the communities we live in!
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