Samoranski 1

Jacob Samoranski
ENC 1101-0114
31 September 2014
Paper 1 Final Draft
Volunteering: A Life Changing Experience
After submitting my final volunteer hours to my guidance counselor Senior year, I had
stepped out of her office with a great sense of accomplishment. I had accumulated almost 200
hours of volunteer work throughout my years of volunteering. I stood there, reflecting over all of
the different events I had been to and could only think to myself: Where would I be now if I
hadnt started volunteering?
In my final year of middle school, 8th grade, I had started volunteering for the first time.
My gifted science teacher Mrs. Ulrich had asked our class on a Friday if anybody would be
willing to help volunteer and clean up a pond in the back of our school the next Saturday
morning. As my fellow classmates and I looked around the room to see if anyone was interested,
we had come to a unanimous decision that we would go the following morning. Everyone in my
science class had been close with each other since the start of middle school gifted in 6th grade
because throughout high school we had been enrolled in the same gifted classes. Since we were
all close friends it would give us an opportunity to hang out with each other and have some fun.
As I arrived to school early that Saturday morning, our teacher had provided a breakfast
with items such as donuts, cookies, and juices for around 30 volunteers that had turned out. After
we had begun our work cleaning up the pond. Different people had been assigned different

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duties, some of which included: using a pole with a net to scoop out algae, digging out invasive
plants that could damage the pond, planting native plants, and building a compost bin to make
compost out of the algae and other plants. I remember standing on this large cement block inside
of the pond with a few friends scooping algae out with the long rods. As I had lifted the net out
of the water it took a lot of strength to pull up the algae because it would be weighed down. After
hours of grueling work in the scorching sun we had accomplished our mission of cleaning up the
pond.
Of course I had showered when I got home and proceeded to lie down on my couch. I
had never been so exhausted before. Both my legs and arms were sore and my whole body was
hot from being out in the heat of the sun. But there was something else. Something besides the
aches and pains. Something besides the fact that I had been with my friends having fun. There
was an indescribable feeling inside of me. I had felt successful, that I actually made a difference.
Instead of sleeping in or playing video games I had chosen the road less traveled and did
something that others dont normally do. And because of volunteering I had cleaned up a pond
so that our class and future classes would be able to use the same pond for science labs and
lessons.
However, it wasnt until 10th grade where I started to volunteer again and much more
frequently. In 9th grade, my English teacher Mrs. Desiante had been one of my favorite teachers
Ive ever had, and she ended up being close with me throughout my whole high school career.
While in her class I had heard a student talk to her about a club, specifically Key Club. I had
found out later that year what Key Club was and also that my teacher had sponsored it. It was a
student driven volunteer club in which the students in officer positions would find volunteer
opportunities and share them with the club so that members can sign up to different events and

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volunteer together. Which is why the next year in 10th grade I joined the student-ran volunteer
club that is Key Club.
At the start of my membership I quickly learned that you needed to complete a certain
amount of volunteer hours each month, around two to three, to be able stay in the club. However,
there would be a few different events offered by the club for people to volunteer for and earn
hours. The events that I had signed up and volunteered for were mainly for local elementary
schools or seasonal festivals because they were usually the most fun and I loved to work with
children. Cookies with Santa was one of my personal favorites because I had helped
elementary school children decorate cookies with frosting and sprinkles at their yearly Christmas
event.
Nearing the end of my 10th grade year I was invited to apply for National Honor Society,
the most exclusive and prestigious club in high school. I had decided to fill out the application
and ended up being one of twenty-one people in my grade to be accepted, despite a couple
hundred of people applying. Joining this new club also meant that there were new obligations
that I needed to fulfill, which ended up being a hefty chunk of volunteer hours, along with
tutoring hours per semester for National Honor Society. With the start of my 11th grade year on
the horizon I would be opened to different mediums of acquiring volunteer hours between the
two clubs and whatever other opportunities I could find.
During my 11th grade year I had completed several hours between a handful of different
events. However I wasnt satisfied with that, and in the end I ended up running for an officer
position for both Key Club and National Honor Society. In Key Club I ran against another
member, a girl, for the position of Editor. We both had to make speeches as to why we should be

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in that position and then the students voted. At the end of the day it was announced over the
intercom that I had received the most votes and that I would be next years Editor for Key Club
my 12th grade year. As opposed to Key Club, my National Honor Society officer position was
significantly easier. Through process of elimination, everybody ended up getting the position
they wanted without any competition, making me automatically the Treasurer for National
Honor Society.
In the summer between my 11th and 12th grade years was another volunteer event that
stood out to me. In order to get a head start on my volunteering requirements for my senior year
in National Honor Society, I decided to sign up for a four day, six hours per day camp, which
totaled twenty-four hours. This camp was a four day long orientation held at a local middle
school for current 5th graders who were becoming 6th graders and were new to middle school.
The purpose of this camp was to allow for these incoming 6th graders to become accustomed to
the school and be able to know their way around their new school, while making new friends so
that the transition from elementary school to middle school wouldnt be as difficult. Throughout
those four days students were broke off into teams of around twenty in which they would rotate
through different activities hosted by different teachers and volunteers. I remember one of the
more memorable activities was one that had the students conduct an experiment with Coke and
Mentos which caused a reaction of the soda shooting out everywhere. The reason that this event
in particular was important to me was because I had spent four days working with these kids and
I had been in their shoes, going to the same middle school as a 6th grader years earlier. I had felt
like a role model to them and they had looked up to me.
Although some people may consider volunteering boring, a waste of time, or working for
free, I disagree. I believe that it is so much more than that. It is a way to build character, to meet

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new people, and to contribute to your community. I give credit to volunteering because if I
hadnt started volunteering that day in 8th grade, I probably wouldnt have been in two of my
clubs that I was involved with, Key Club and National Honor Society. Also, volunteering had
helped in my acceptance to the University of Central Florida. It has taught me life skills that I
will carry with me through the rest of my life such as being responsible, dependable, and to be a
hard worker. I look back and if it wasnt for my friends and my teachers who pushed me out of
my comfort zone and started me on my path of volunteering I dont think that I would be as
successful as I am to this day. You forgot to print your name on this paper, my guidance
counselor Mrs. Rucconich shouted as she called me back into her office. I went back in, picked
up a pen, and signed my name on the paper, finalizing the end of my high school volunteering.