John Eller-Baud

Ms. Tiejten

Service Capstone

3/7/2024

St. Brother Andre Service Project

During my time at Gilmour, I have participated in a wide range of different service activities. These span from open houses at my old middle school for two hours, to volunteering the entire duration of the summer with kids and animals. Although the duration of these service projects and the activities during them have all differed greatly, I learned something from each one of them, and I continuously use the lessons that I have learned in each one of them and apply them to my daily life.

My first service project was during sophomore year when I was asked by Ms. Hollis to help out for my old elementary and middle school’s high school night. I was there for two hours but it felt a lot longer than two hours. I talked about Gilmour Academy and how much I enjoyed the school and what I enjoyed about it. It was a very enjoyable experience, to be able to talk about my new high school and how much I liked it to prospective students who were looking for their next step in life.

The next service activity I did after that was my first freshman retreat. It was the fall of my junior year, and my first leadership experience that I had done, and I was very nervous but also excited about it. I was told that I had to teach everyone how to make paper cranes. I was excited but scared because I had never learned how to make a paper crane. I taught myself by looking through many YouTube videos. I then presented how to make paper cranes during the freshman retreat and after I was done with the first group the next group followed. It was like this for the rest of the day and the day after that. One group after the next, reintroducing myself, reteaching, and also getting to know all of the freshmen was an amazing experience. It taught me not only how to lead people, but also made me more comfortable talking in front of large groups of people, especially groups of people that I don’t know. After this experience I decided that I would want to do another experience like this, but in a more helpful way towards the community. 

I found a job at the same place where the retreat was being held and volunteered at their horse barn over the summer. I started to work there and teach young kids, kids with disabilities, and kids who come from low-income families and communities how to ride horses. I also learned to take care of the horses but that wasn’t the main reason that I worked there. It felt good to be able to help and teach people a new skill, that was also a fun activity that not a lot of people get to experience. I worked there for a total of 280 hours over the summer and enjoyed every second of it. I wasn’t sure at first if I would like the experience because of the long amount of hours, as well as the physically demanding and exhausting work that I would be doing, but if I had to go back and choose to do it again I would. This experience also helped me discover the career choice that I want to go into. It helped me realize that I want to become a veterinarian, but not an equine veterinarian, more of a household animal type of vet with maybe a specialty in aviary animals or marine animals. 

At the beginning of my senior year, I decided that I wanted to lead the freshman retreat again because I thought that my insight although stemming from my experience in my junior year, would differ from it. Instead of making paper cranes this year (partially because it was part of the theme from one of our school's charisms for the year prior), I decided to lead the icebreaker activity. It was a lot more fun than I thought it would be, and also allowed me to meet the freshman, on a less instructional level and more on a friendly level. I was able to learn a few fun facts about every single one of the freshman, along with their names, and what a few of their favorite things and activities were, and I was also able to gauge not only how their personalities were individually, but also how they would hopefully grow to be as a class. A lot of the seniors on the freshman retreat realized that this new grade freshman would be a lot like my senior class. Very quiet, and a little separated in the beginning, but now almost towards the end of their first year of high school, we have all seen how much they have grown, and bonded as a class.

While on this second freshman retreat, I decided to give what they called a witness talk. I was way underprepared because I had no clue what to write, I wrote it all day because I was scared but when I went on stage to deliver it, I told myself to just read what I had written down. I took a few deep breaths, read, and then looked up at the entire freshman grade looking at me like I was a completely different person they had met at the icebreaker activity, and to some, I was still a complete stranger. I made friends with the freshmen on this retreat and I’m still friends with them, but for them, they are sad that I’m leaving in a few short weeks, but to me, it’s a different sadness. It sucks that we were good friends but I’m ready for the next chapter in my life.

A lot of the kids at Gilmour Academy do not understand the meaning of service, or why we do service in the first place. I’ve heard some people say that it’s because of our mission statement, which yes, is a major part of our mission statement, but that’s not the main reason. I’ve heard others say it’s because we are a catholic school. While to me this made sense when I first came to Gilmour, I now know the real reason we do service. The true reason that Gilmour Academy has all of its students participate in some sort of service activity during their time at the school, while yes it’s to better the community, but it is also to show each student what life is like for a different person. It is to get us to see how different people have to live every single day. Whether that is struggling, or just a job that we have never considered. While it may seem cliche that is my reasoning behind why Gilmour has us to service, to educate us in a way other than just that learning we do in a classroom.

I had to give a tour to a nice mother who was looking towards the future for her daughter's high school, I answered all of her questions to the best of my ability

I was the freshman retreat icebreaker group leader so I came up with a few different games to help the freshmen get to know the names of people in their groups and make up a few games so that they would become more comfortable with each other. I also gave a quick witness talk about how I've grown and become a part of the Gilmour family and community.

I would arrive at work at 8:00 am and leave around 5:30pm if the overnight campers had a class if not at 3:30 or 4:00. I helped to teach the kids to ride horses as well as learn to take care of them. I also had to take care of the horses and other barn animals.

I described Gilmour and answer questions that students and parents had