Personal Statement: A Career As A Student United Way

Coming from a single parent household with a mom whose only monthly income is a social security check in the mail, paying for college will be a struggle. My mother is diagnosed with a bipolar disorder as her disability, enabling her to receive the small amount of money that she does. Sometimes, she fixes very small portions for herself in order to provide meals for my sister and I. My sister, who is also in college, uses her own hard earned money to pay for classes herself. Some semesters she has to skip signing up for classes in order to save up enough money for classes and books. Since I will be graduating with my Associates of Arts degree in May from Polk State Lakeland Collegiate High School, my goal is to receive a bachelors and masters

As I learned about the nonprofit organization United Way and all it does for the local community, specializing in education, income, and health, I knew I wanted to be apart of something this meaningful. Seeing with my own eyes the impacts this organization has on people makes me crave assisting others to a larger extent. With the degrees I obtain, I will aim to be employed by United Way or another nonprofit organization. Helping those in dire need while being able to effectively communicate with them as well as co-workers are where I see myself in a professional

As Chairman of Membership, my duty is to record attendance at each meeting as well as community service and events. At the beginning of this school year, we partnered with Oscar J. Pope Elementary (OJP) as one of our main focuses. So far, we have done countless projects for the school. Our first one was a book drive that donated an abundance of books to each grade level. I will never forget the smile of a third-grade girl who handed me a hand crafted thank you card. Seeing the impact these books had on this little girl and her classmates made me realize the reason why I help these children. It is not because I am required as an officer but because giving back to the community and positively impacting other individuals is so significant. One off the biggest turnouts was the personal needs drive, which we created the acronym S.U.D.S.S. We advertised to the entire school, outside of our group of members, to donate socks, underwear, deodorant, soap, and school supplies for OJP. This drive was in effect for about two weeks before our organizational club meeting. The number of items we had gathered was overwhelming. As we separated and grouped supplies, we continued to run out of tables to do so, which is a great problem to have. Once again, we delivered to OJP and the staff and children were ecstatic. Most of the elementary school kids are from low-income families who struggle to provide the basic