Competency to see and Courage to act has allowed me to do some service things that have truly been impactful. At times, I think about the people who have more than 100 service hours, and I get upset with myself, thinking about all of the missed opportunities that I could have done during my years to gain more service hours. However, I am very pleased with the work that I did, as I tried to live each day within service by helping others within the community who need it the most. 

Through my years at Gilmour Academy, I have devoted a lot of time to working with the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion officers. My first act of service was going to the Student Diversity Leadership Conference in December 2020. During this virtual conference, I learned about how to help not only myself navigate through a PWI, but to help others in it as well. I continued to work with DEI initiatives, including a small retreat with the Civic Engagement Team, another SDLC conference, and other smaller activities. With doing those services, it helped me to learn what is needed within the community, and how I can take what I learned at Gilmour out into the world to make change everywhere.

With doing a lot of competence hours, the main act I did during my 4 years of service was helping my mother with the Middle School girls’ basketball team during the 2021-2022 season. This season was (for the foreseeable future) my mother’s last season. She wanted to do well this season, and I wanted to help. I went to all of the games and helped with practices. I also helped keep the score at the games and made sure everything was correct. This gave me an appreciation for the sport, knowing that the young girls who were playing it were going to these long practices and working very hard during the games. I believe this gave me a better view of sports, and it helped me during my 2 years as a basketball cheerleader. 

Lastly, a couple of hours doing small tasks for others, like helping count money for a Gilmour Gives dressdown. I enjoy doing small things as well as bigger ones because it helps a person. The task doesn't always have to be some huge thing like building a house or weeding someone's yard, but helping them put stuff away can be just helpful to that person. 

I also have another set of hours that I did not log, it's just as important. During the 2023 summer, I worked at a summer camp called Freedom School in East Cleveland. As a part of that summer camp, I did work for pay. However, I worked about 40 hours total of unpaid time. While I did not log these hours, it is still an important part of my journey these last four years. 

These services helped me to figure out what I want to do with my future. DEI work has always been something that I am very interested in. What I have learned during the year at Gilmour solidified my bigger plan and my greater purpose. Helping with basketball and working last summer helped me to learn about my love for helping children and disadvantaged people in communities. One thing that has been impactful to me is the gravity that was put onto doing actual service versus simply donating to causes. Money can help someone, but doing certain services allows for a direct impact. It also allows the person who is doing the service to make connections with the person(s) they are serving. It has also helped me get a clear understanding of what is service and what is helpful. One service day trip that showed me this \was when my advisory went to Bessie Angels, an organization for girls who recently aged out of foster care. While donating food and clothes to the organization is helpful, hands-on help is also very needed.

 Service at Gilmour is something that people dread, another requirement to graduate. I believe that the service hours that I completed helped make my Gilmour experience whole. It also helped me to create new ideas for my future. This experience is something that I hope to take beyond Gilmour, and into the real world. 

I helped clean up some and put together two boards for the setup. 

During the season, I helped keep score for games, help with practices and also with team events. 

I helped set up art panels and helped with setting up pictures do be hung. I also helped counting money for the Gilmour Gives dressdown. 

we talked about further plans for the year and how we want to make the team known. we also talked about racial issues that affected the group in regards to a book we read to guide the conversation.