Youth Volunteer Scholarship

I finally understood what people meant by calling someone a ray of sunlight when I first met Orville. I was gravely nervous walking into my first volunteer shift at St.Therese. I had heard that the Technology Help position was always in high demand, and very popular with residents. A million worries filled my mind. What if I wasn’t able to help? What if they didn’t like me? What if I was a downgrade from the last person who held this position? I sat at the black wooden table facing the floor-to-ceiling windows that looked out into the hall. People walked past, and I plastered a smile on my face unsure of my place in this building. People started trickling in, eager to get their questions answered. When Orville came in, he had a smile on his face, a gold chain around his neck, and rhythm to his walk. His eyes were kind and his manner was youthful. He began asking me a question about his laptop but quickly trailed off to tell me a story of his late dog Timber, a white German shepherd who barked all through the night annoying the neighbors. He loved her. Time began to run out for our time slot, and I helped him the best I could. He thanked me, asked my name, and walked back out the same way he came in, a smile on his face and a rhythm to his walk. The next resident who came in told me about Orville, and how he liked to talk. She told me if I didn’t stop him, he’d talk all night. I politely chuckled and stored that in the back of my mind. That small interaction that night would impact me in a way I could’ve never anticipated. He had made me feel welcome.

Following my first evening at St.Therese, I closed up the room and walked outside into the cool September air with a glow emitting from my heart. Every anxiety I had felt before that night had been taken away and replaced with fragments of adoration for what I was doing, and who I was helping that would slowly mold together over my 1.5 years at St.Therese. I drove
home that night feeling golden. And I knew at that moment that I was meant to be here. I was meant to have met those people because they would be the ones who changed my life.
The weeks began to pass, and the weather outside became frigid, but each night I spent with residents at St.Therese felt impossibly warm. As they began to see me regularly, a personal connection was formed. I knew them, I knew their spouses, their children and grandchildren, I knew their passions, their pasts, I knew their hearts and souls. And they knew me. Conversations about life, love, and regret sneaked their way into many moments. My meetings with residents soon became a trade-off. They asked me a question about technology, I listened and taught them how to understand technology, and how to work through problems they were having. In turn, I asked them questions about their life, and they taught me things that I will carry with me forever.
One moment I remember clearly is a meeting I had with a woman who came to me struggling to order pictures. I had heard of this news, her wedding, and I felt incredibly lucky to help her. She told me her story. She shared about her children and her late husband, and she told me of the losses she’d endured, for which I shared her grief. She then began to tell me how she met her new husband. She spoke of their shared grief for loved ones and his charm she couldn’t ignore. Her eyes dazzled with endearment as she told me how it felt to fall in love at her age, the same way every lucky person feels, no matter their age. So, I sat with her and listened, touched deeply. We went through her pictures, and she smiled reliving her wedding day. Through a little bit of puzzle-solving, I was able to help her select and order the memories she wanted to keep forever. The gratitude she expressed towards me was something I felt I didn't deserve. In my eyes, what I was helping with was simple, something I didn’t think twice about in my own life. But to her, and to all the residents I visit with, I realized it has a deeper meaning. It means staying connected
with family or fulfilling their journey of writing a memoir. It means saving the moments they’d most like to remember and integrating themselves into a new age of communication.
Through similar moments spent with many others, I was taught that life is very long and that it’s difficult. Life is full of loss and hurt, but it is incredibly beautiful, and it is not something to take too seriously. I’ve also been given purpose in life. Volunteering here has taught me how to teach. I believe this is a lesson that will aid me in many ways throughout my life, extending well beyond how I use it at St.Therese. But, what I am delighted to know is how impactful and meaningful it is to many people.

Being at St.Therese was something I had never expected to impact me in the way that it has.Though I spend my days teaching, I am learning far more. I will be eternally grateful for this opportunity that found me in September nearly two years ago. It is more than volunteering to me, it is a passion. This experience has grown not only my communication, and teaching skills, but it has opened my eyes to the morals of life; which I learned from the people who sat across from me at the black wooden table. I aim to prioritize listening and understanding when meeting people. See, I found that no matter how different two people may seem, there is always a connection found within. This is the driving force of what it means to care for others and to live a fulfilling life. The residents at St.Therese made me the person who will go on to earn her degree in neuroscience. And they made me the person who will attend medical school grow her knowledge and one day return home because she was given a reason– to care for the very people who cared for her.

Thank you for your consideration of my application,
Grace Olaleye

Connection, Impact, and Learning with Seniors

    Why is human connection so important? Is it our biology or an overarching need to feel a sense of belonging? I believe we crave human interaction because it’s an outlet to share our lives with one another during times of celebration, tribulations, and all that we experience together. 
    During my senior year of high school, I learned that the elderly in my community were feeling disconnected from youth due to a rise in technology use and the physical distance that separated senior citizens from their family members following the Covid-19 Pandemic. To solve this problem, two classmates and I founded a club at the high school called ‘Teen Tech Tutors/Adopt a Grandparent’. We designed this program to bridge generational divides and connect assisted living residents with high school students for technology support and human interaction over the long term. In one week, we had forty residents sign up to be matched with high school students based on personality, hobbies, and technology needs. This was a great success as the youth and elderly in the community came together over shared interests and a thirst for knowledge. After months of hard work and organization, our plan was executed with advertising, gaining approval from the assisted living facility, and collecting names of interested high school students to meet with residents.
    When I first arrived at the assisted living facility, I was nervous to meet the couple I was matched with. However, as soon as I sat down to talk with them, they were very welcoming and kind. She was a very caring woman who smiled at me when I walked into the room with glasses that covered most of her face. While he was a quieter gentleman who preferred to listen rather than speak and held himself with confidence. After getting acquainted and discussing our passions, I realized that the stigma around the elderly being stuck in their ways is false. Senior citizens are more than willing to adapt and connect with youth if there is motivation and resources to do so.
     Once I started talking with my seniors through the ‘Teen Tech Tutors/Adopt a Grandparent’ program, I didn’t want to stop. Their life stories were so interesting, and I was pleased they could share their wisdom and love for their family with me. However, they were struggling with technology as it had become an inhibitor rather than a facilitator for connecting with their grandkids who live out of the state. As a solution, we discovered how to call their family members through facetime on an android phone establishing a virtual connection together. After solving this technology issue, they were overwhelmed with joy as there was a greater possibility of strengthening their relationships and talking with their grandchildren. This experience was very gratifying, as I had positively impacted the lives of seniors through volunteering that will help them facilitate relationships in the future through emotional and technical support. Other teen participants were also positively affected to think about their lives, value their new relationships, and think about the influence technology has on society.
    Volunteering with the elderly was very rewarding, as I do not have any grandparents who live in the state. Therefore, volunteering with a senior impacted me to redefine how I want to live my life through learning from their life experiences. While I taught them how to use technology, they taught me the power of love, how wisdom comes with years, and the importance of family. These conversations encouraged me to reflect on my life and appreciate my family more. On a greater scale, I have involved other teenagers in this program, as I believe that talking to the elderly can teach youth so much about life. Whether that is the importance of listening or how love can prevail through all, senior citizens have so much wisdom to share with youth. This experience has further ignited my desire to pursue a career in nonprofits which would allow me to fulfill my purpose in life and help others on a more global scale. If I am fortunate enough to receive this scholarship, I will use it to accomplish my dream of attending college to pursue a degree in sociology and hopefully run my own non-profit one day.

Thank you for the consideration of my application.

The Positive Impact I Had On a Senior

    “There is a special place for you in heaven young man.” I heard this from a memory care resident after finishing my first magic show at Saint Therese. This sweet comment made me realize the importance of volunteering and furthered my passion towards it. I have been volunteering at the Oxbow Lake facility since I was a kid. I started in elementary school by tagging along with my mother and would help with bingo and other weekly activities. After years away from Saint Therese, I decided to start volunteering again during my junior year of high school. Since then, I have led and helped with a variety of activities including magic shows, cardio drumming, transportation to events, and card games with residents. 
    Over the years, I would like to think that I have had a positive impact on several Saint Therese residents. However, there is one person in particular who stands out. When initially getting back into volunteering, I thought it would be cool to put on magic shows to entertain the residents. I would put on shows each week in different parts of the facility. Not only did my shows bring smiles, but I was often told that I “made everyone’s day,” even the staff. The experience of coming in every week to do magic made me feel as if I was helping boost the overall mood of many of the residents. 
    This is where I first met “Charlie” (name changed for privacy reasons) . He would come to my magic shows every week and would support me with kind comments just like that first memory care resident did. As my schedule freed up during the school year, I let our volunteer coordinator know that I was willing to volunteer more hours each week and expand outside of magic shows. 
    I was told Charlie had been wanting to find a partner to play cards with, so I added that into my schedule. It started out a little rough because I didn’t know any of the older card games he used to play, like Pinochle and Rummy 500. He didn’t remember enough to teach me, so I set out to research and practice the card games in between our visits. Over the months that we would play cards, I learned a lot about Charlie. I noticed that he would always do a variety of mathematical equations to figure out if we laid the cards out correctly. One day I asked about this and he shared with me how he spent most of his life teaching math and how it was pretty much an instinct for him. I also learned why these card games were so important to Charlie. One day he told me that his brother and dad would always play with him before they passed away. This made me realize it was not only about us playing cards, but also about giving Charlie the opportunity to relive his younger days.
    Sadly, right when we were starting to get the hang of the card games, he had an incident which landed him in the hospital and was ultimately unable to continue to play cards with me. This made me reflect and realize how truly important it is to build relationships and spend time with seniors while we still can.
    I wrote a 10-page paper this school year about achieving inner happiness. One of the main points made in this essay highlighted the sheer importance of having regular interaction and good relationships with others. Not only was I able to entertain Charlie with magic shows and play his favorite card games with him, I also think that simply spending time with him had a strong positive impact on his health. I will always remember Charlie. I know the theme of this essay was the positive impact I have had on a senior, but I believe that he has had an equally important impact on me. Thank you for considering me for this scholarship.