The Life-Changing Experience of Helping Others

Despite all the times I have” hated” school for all the work and pressure it puts on us, something that I thank and I owe to the school is my love for social service. Besides the outstanding academic performance, I consider that our school excels in shaping amazing human beings, amazing women. But not only women that are light to the world, but that are able to turn on the light that is inside every person. Yes, our school may be really competitive and focused on grades, but, as we grow up, we turn out to be persons that wouldn't go over or hurt others to achieve our goals. Even though we are girls from a comfortable and privileged social class, the school has taught us to be humble, and it has tried to show us what's on the outside of our perfect bubble. It has kept our feet on the ground, letting us know that there are others in need and that we have everything to help them.

I may say that tenth grade has been the most difficult and heavy academic year, but it is also full of responsibilities that fill me with happiness. In tenth grade, we started social service with the kindergarten children of CASFA. As my last name begins with the letter s, I am one of the last girls to go to social service, so I have not yet begun my cycle. However, I had the opportunity to go to replace one of my classmates, and I could not be happier that day. I remember that morning was really stressful because I had to take a physics exam, and I had a lot of pressure on me because I needed a 100 to pass the subject. I did the exam in the first hour and when I finished, I walked to the bus worrying if I had done well. When we arrived at the other school and I saw all the little children saying goodbye to their parents, my heart melted, and every concern I had evaporated from my mind. The next hours, I could not have been happier. I played to the doctor and the veterinary, I read them a book, I drew with them, we sang songs, etc. Aside from being again a little girl and recalling those moments when my only worry was to get to the swing first, I forgot every other aspect from my life. In the end, I had lived a moment that I enjoyed to the fullest and that filled me. For hours I didn't think about school, about my issues, about what I was going to eat, I was 100% focused on helping those kids to develop abilities in fun ways.

At the end of the day, I was really tired as those children had squeezed all the energy from my body, but it was certainly satisfying that I was tired from having fun and having done something that I liked, and not tired because of being on a chair for 8 hours. I fell in love with each one of those kids, and one of my motivations right now is to see them again. I feel that helping others, especially children, is where I belong. I truly believe that that is my purpose in life, to leave a mark on little hearts.

By Valentina Salinas Sefair, 10A

Since we are little, around second grade, the school or the Religion Department, has organized community outings of social service, and as a consequence, I started loving those events. Thanks to those, I realized that I have extreme admiration and love for little kids. It was devastating and heartbreaking for me to see children in the streets, or kids with cerebral palsy or with cancer. My mother, who works as an occupational therapist with kids with down syndrome or autism, has always taught me to respect these kids. I think that from her, I inherited my love and devotion to children. And something that left me thinking a lot, is that thanks to the lack of a chromosome, a child is taken away the concept of evil. I mean, you never see a killer or a thief that has down syndrome, and ironically, these kids are bullied and discriminated for being different and end up being some of the most innocent people.