Hi! My name is Catherine Carroll and I am from Arlington, Virginia. I am a human development major at Virginia Tech and am currently interested in pursuing a career in education. Through various service experiences, I have discovered that my heart lies in working with others, specifically the younger generations, in order to make a lasting positive impact on society. It is because of these experiences and interactions that I know what sort of work I want to do with my life.
I have been fortunate enough to be involved in three service trips as well as a handful of local community service events. As much as I love working with and giving back to the community I grew up in, I have to say that my most memorable service experiences occurred on service trips outside of the D.C., Maryland, Virginia area. When reflecting on these experiences, I noticed a common element; my favorite memories are of working and interacting with kids. No matter how bad a situation may be, they will always find a way to play and to have fun. Children are the ones who have constant smiles throughout the hard times and still find a way to have universal childhood experiences even when growing up in extremely impoverished areas. There are two memories in particular that stand out from the rest which have made the most impact on discovering the type of career and work I want to spend my life doing.
The first memory was made while on a service learning trip in Paraguay. The first week of the trip was spent in a rural village outside of Asuncion, where we lived with host families and learned about life in the area. The second week, we stayed in a hostel in Asuncion and spent the days in an area of the city called Santa Ana, which was home to a notoriously low income community. Due to a recent influx of rain in the area, the local body of water had started to overflow and cause major flooding. A majority of the people were displaced from their homes and forced to hastily evacuate and move further inland. They had to set up makeshift shelter neighborhoods where families were living in shacks built of thin sheets of plywood.
On the third day there I went out with a group to take a census of the damage from the flooding and met a young boy with the biggest smile. That one smile struck up a friendship that I will always remember. We shared laughs and he introduced me to other children. One of them, a 7-year-old girl, ran up to us and gave me a hug. At first I was taken aback, but then I realized that she was so excited to meet and play with me that the shock of being hugged by someone I had never met before quickly wore off. Looking around at our surroundings (trash, flies, shacks with insufficient walls and roofs) one would not expect the laughter and joy that was being exerted by these children, however I was standing there watching the smiles on their faces and listening to them laugh. It was truly amazing.
The second memory took place on Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. When I was a sophomore in high school I participated in my first service trip to Pine Ridge, South Dakota with a group from my school and volunteered on Pine Ridge and Rosebud Indian Reservations through an organization named Re-Member. I had such a remarkable experience, that junior year of high school I decided to go back, this time bringing my mother and sister along with me. We skirted trailers, built wheelchair ramps and outhouses, and built and delivered bunk beds as well as sheets and books. Delivering bunk beds to various homes throughout the reservation was the most memorable experience of both of the trips because it involved interaction with members of the community and getting a glimpse into their lives.
While delivering beds to a home on Rosebud Reservation, I met a young girl and her sister who had never slept in their own beds before. They were so excited to jump on them and roll around in the new sheets, they could hardly contain it. Because the beds weren’t assembled yet and the volunteers were working to put them together, the girls couldn’t go down to the room where their beds were just yet. My sister and I distracted them by reading some books that we had brought to give them and letting them braid our hair. At first they were shy but as time went on they began to open up and talk to us and play with us more. When it was finally time for them to see their beds, they ran downstairs holding our hands and leaped onto the new mattresses. It was an amazing thing to experience. I had never seen someone be so happy and enthusiastic about a bed before; but then again I had never been exposed to a lifestyle where a family was unable to afford enough beds for everyone. It was truly a humbling experience. Sometimes when doing service, it can be easy to question what the point of your work is (especially if it involves manual labor), but all of those thoughts go far away when you see the smiles on the faces of the people you are helping to serve.
The reason I chose to join the SERVE Living Learning Community at Virginia Tech is because I know that I will be able to make many more memories like the ones I wrote about above. Being a part of a community that holds service to others at its core is so amazing. Learning from one another and bonding through service is one of the best ways to grow as both a group and an individual. It has only been about two weeks since school started, and I already know that joining SERVE was one of the best decisions I have made. I couldn’t imagine starting college off on any other foot.
I have been fortunate enough to be involved in three service trips as well as a handful of local community service events. As much as I love working with and giving back to the community I grew up in, I have to say that my most memorable service experiences occurred on service trips outside of the D.C., Maryland, Virginia area. When reflecting on these experiences, I noticed a common element; my favorite memories are of working and interacting with kids. No matter how bad a situation may be, they will always find a way to play and to have fun. Children are the ones who have constant smiles throughout the hard times and still find a way to have universal childhood experiences even when growing up in extremely impoverished areas. There are two memories in particular that stand out from the rest which have made the most impact on discovering the type of career and work I want to spend my life doing.
The first memory was made while on a service learning trip in Paraguay. The first week of the trip was spent in a rural village outside of Asuncion, where we lived with host families and learned about life in the area. The second week, we stayed in a hostel in Asuncion and spent the days in an area of the city called Santa Ana, which was home to a notoriously low income community. Due to a recent influx of rain in the area, the local body of water had started to overflow and cause major flooding. A majority of the people were displaced from their homes and forced to hastily evacuate and move further inland. They had to set up makeshift shelter neighborhoods where families were living in shacks built of thin sheets of plywood.
On the third day there I went out with a group to take a census of the damage from the flooding and met a young boy with the biggest smile. That one smile struck up a friendship that I will always remember. We shared laughs and he introduced me to other children. One of them, a 7-year-old girl, ran up to us and gave me a hug. At first I was taken aback, but then I realized that she was so excited to meet and play with me that the shock of being hugged by someone I had never met before quickly wore off. Looking around at our surroundings (trash, flies, shacks with insufficient walls and roofs) one would not expect the laughter and joy that was being exerted by these children, however I was standing there watching the smiles on their faces and listening to them laugh. It was truly amazing.
The second memory took place on Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. When I was a sophomore in high school I participated in my first service trip to Pine Ridge, South Dakota with a group from my school and volunteered on Pine Ridge and Rosebud Indian Reservations through an organization named Re-Member. I had such a remarkable experience, that junior year of high school I decided to go back, this time bringing my mother and sister along with me. We skirted trailers, built wheelchair ramps and outhouses, and built and delivered bunk beds as well as sheets and books. Delivering bunk beds to various homes throughout the reservation was the most memorable experience of both of the trips because it involved interaction with members of the community and getting a glimpse into their lives.
While delivering beds to a home on Rosebud Reservation, I met a young girl and her sister who had never slept in their own beds before. They were so excited to jump on them and roll around in the new sheets, they could hardly contain it. Because the beds weren’t assembled yet and the volunteers were working to put them together, the girls couldn’t go down to the room where their beds were just yet. My sister and I distracted them by reading some books that we had brought to give them and letting them braid our hair. At first they were shy but as time went on they began to open up and talk to us and play with us more. When it was finally time for them to see their beds, they ran downstairs holding our hands and leaped onto the new mattresses. It was an amazing thing to experience. I had never seen someone be so happy and enthusiastic about a bed before; but then again I had never been exposed to a lifestyle where a family was unable to afford enough beds for everyone. It was truly a humbling experience. Sometimes when doing service, it can be easy to question what the point of your work is (especially if it involves manual labor), but all of those thoughts go far away when you see the smiles on the faces of the people you are helping to serve.
The reason I chose to join the SERVE Living Learning Community at Virginia Tech is because I know that I will be able to make many more memories like the ones I wrote about above. Being a part of a community that holds service to others at its core is so amazing. Learning from one another and bonding through service is one of the best ways to grow as both a group and an individual. It has only been about two weeks since school started, and I already know that joining SERVE was one of the best decisions I have made. I couldn’t imagine starting college off on any other foot.