Mahatma Gandhi once said, “The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.” I truly believe in these powerful words, especially as a military kid who has moved quite a bit. I was eight when “service to others” gave me some stability and a sense of purpose; I became a Girl Scout, started helping in my school’s community garden and volunteered with my Grammy at the USO. Even then, I felt the power of connecting with a community. Now, as a high school junior, I have “matured” as a volunteer and intentionally work with diverse groups in a community to gain a more accurate view of the world around me. Thankfully, even with a pandemic, I am involved in several rewarding service projects that afford me an opportunity to gain self-confidence in leadership, communication, and organizational skills.

My most extensive community service project has been my Girl Scout Gold Award Take Action Project. For this service project, I recognized the need to implement a natural disaster readiness program at a local preschool. This preschool offers a range of educational programs to over 260 children and is in an area that has seen evacuations due to natural disasters. My project’s plan accomplishes a variety of things, including teaching preschoolers about natural disasters and emergency responses through hands-on learning experiences and discussions, providing parents with the tools to respond to an emergency at home, helping staff be prepared for an emergency or natural disaster on campus, and making my program available to over 65 preschools in the area with. a detailed manual.

Unfortunately, most of my in-person plans had to be modified due to COVID-19, but I have been actively working on the project since June of 2020. For example, I made eleven informational videos, designed a student emergency bag program, wrote newsletter articles, created an earthquake/fire safety lesson box for teachers, and participated in a socially distant playground activity with the preschoolers. Seeing the preschoolers has been my favorite part of the project: it was fun to interact with them and be a positive role model. Many of them recognized me as “Girl Scout Emma Borgie,” and I hope I inspired them to become involved within their community when they get older.

My project will officially conclude in April of 2021, and I look forward to watching it grow and spread beyond the preschool. Another important volunteer activity that I am proudly a part of is a neighborhood science club. This club was started in July of 2020 when my younger brother didn’t see the fun in learning. So, a socially distant, mask-requiring, hands-on kids’ science club was started, and I, of course, wanted “in.” I helped run the weekly outdoor club, and I added a kid-friendly art lesson before the science topic. We learned about volcanoes, potatoes and electricity, elephant toothpaste, immiscible liquid lava lamps, and density. At the art end, we discussed artists like Monet, Klimt, and Smithson.

One of the most rewarding aspects was sharing my love of science with the youngest student; she discovered that science is exciting! Because we had so much fun together learning over the 7-week class, the kids asked to continue into the school year; we now try to meet once a month.

Besides these two meaningful activities, I am involved with several other organizations and causes. For example, I am a very active member of the Jr Optimist Service Club. I am the treasurer and routinely participate and help plan the service projects. Our projects this year have included: Beach cleanups, supporting local healthcare workers with baked goods, collecting recyclables to generate funds for charitable organizations, making over 80-holiday cards for Coronado Retirement Center residents, mailing personal care items to female Navy military members aboard ships, and donating canned goods.

As of December 2020, I am a volunteer tutor for low-income families through superWisely.com and helped organize an AP Physics study group on Zoom through my high school physics class the week before the final exam. I am enjoying the experience of teaching so much that I currently help a female peer twice a week in math and physics. Finally, I became a Coronado Library Volunteer and clean books weekly. As you can see, I really enjoy getting involved with my community, and this year, I have had several opportunities to get involved despite the pandemic. I look forward to finding new ways to connect with others and make a difference.

Charities of choice:

Emma gives away her entire award of $1,000 to charity (instead of keeping $500 for herself): $500 to Jr. Optimist Club and $500 to San Diego American Red Cross for disaster relief.