Activity

A couple of months before I left on a trip by myself to meet a bunch of strangers, I was sitting in my Chemistry class in Felmey Hall when a recruit came into spread the word about a company I had never heard of, GIVE Volunteers. With little study I convinced myself that it is a step I must take and signed myself up. Fast forward to sitting on an old school bus filled with 30 other volunteers, travel down a gravel road to a little fishing village on Western coast of the country. Although the initial 12 hours were a little awkward and intimidating that I grew to love that group of strangers and some of them are still my good friends today, four decades after. We started in the small city of Jiquilillo building houses for single and abused mothers and worked our way into Little Corn Island, educating kids and functioning using a recycling plan.

Poverty in some of those places were high, I saw things that I had seen on the information earlier and never thought I would experience firsthand. But I gained a new respect for the world, for my family and friends and all that we have. Little did I know at the time that this trip would change who I was, how I viewed the world, and that which I would want to do for the rest of my life.

It was once my flight landed in Chicago that for the first time in my entire life I had a passion for something. I had done things before that I liked, like cooking and taking art courses, things which I thought would be fun to do but I had never craved something like this passion before. I’d spent the past two weeks traveling around and volunteering in Nicaragua. And those two months would be the most meaningful weeks of my 18 years of life. At moments it was terrifying, I asked why I went, I got sick and missed home and my mother, but the longer I did and the more I dreaded, the more I climbed along with the more I realized the very best things in life are held at the opposite side of fear. I needed to stretch past my anxiety to jump on that plane and it ended up leading me on an adventure I can never forget. That experience sculpted me as a person.

Voluntering abroad lead me into the love of my profession, along with the work I do throughout the area.

When I was offered my internship in Marcfirst my friends told me I was stupid for not searching for an opportunity that would provide pay. I knew it’d be relatively time consuming and though doing the job for free wasn’t my first choice, it was a company that consisted of something which I completely supported. It was that passion to relinquish into the neighborhood of doing good and helping others no matter what form it arrived in. I’m currently seven months to my internship and I love every single second of it. I would go in longer if I had the time, the money means nothing to me personally and that I fully support the work being done. It’s proven that money isn’t the ultimate prize in life, and that happiness in what you’re doing with your life will be.