The first thing that I point out to anyone who enters my dorm room would be my bulletin board filled with pictures of 'my kids'. Over the past two years I have had the wonderful opportunity to work with a program called Summerbridge, in which motivated middle school students are taught by high school and college age students who become the teachers that everyone has always dreamed of having. We teach small classes and employ creative lessons so that our kids can finally admit that it's cool to believe that learning is fun. 'My kids' to which I referred are my students, but they are also so much more than that. They are my teachers, my role models, and my friends.

I have realized that once you make a connection to the community, and when you reach the point that your kids feel comfortable calling you at any hour or talking to you for hours on Instant Messenger, you become addicted to community service such that you will never be able to stop. To me, this is what community service is about. It is about making connections. It is about actually becoming part of the community you are helping. By becoming involved in community service, and by helping a community, you are not only helping that community, but you are also helping yourself more than you will ever know. In a presentation of learning that I presented to my fellow staff members at the end of this past summer at Summerbridge, I told them that I learned so much more from my kids than I can ever expect them to learn from me and most of the other staff members agreed. They taught me what respect really is, and what it means to be motivated and dedicated. For example, some of my kids would wake up at 5:30 in the morning every day during the summer to ride a bus for two hours to Summerbridge, and others would not get home until 7:00 at night, yet our attendance levels were still astounding.

My most touching story from this summer is that of Nicole. Nicole is a twelve year old sixth-grader who applied to middle-schools on her own, helps raise her cousin, goes to school when she wants, and is incredibly self-sufficient. The one thing that Nicole is missing is structure. I'm not sure that anyone would realize for a day or two if she didn't come home. Over the summer Nicole was in my sixth-grade math class, and she rebelled every time she could so that she could get attention. And every time she got in trouble you could tell how happy she was to realize that there was someone who cared enough to tell her that her behavior was not appropriate. The most amazing thing though, was that she came to class every day even when she could easily have gotten away with not showing up. Furthermore, she serves as a great example of motivation. She was so motivated that even though she would not pay attention in class so that she would seem cool, she would call me every night and work with me on her own during the rest of the day so that she wouldn't miss any information. She took so much pride in being able to prove to me how smart she was.

I don't think that Nicole will ever realize how much I have learned from her. I continue to talk to her every few days, and she still tries to rebel against my advice, just because she knows that I will not back down and willingly allow her to do something that she and I both know is wrong.

I never believed the people who said that they were going to change the world. I didn't think that one person could make a difference, but now I realize I was wrong. Since meeting people like Nicole, I've become more and more amazed at the variety of ways in which people can and do change the world every day. And the best part is that anyone can change the world, because anyone can become involved and make the same type of connections with the community that I have made. I find that in college I look forward with eager anticipation to the two days a week that I get to go out into the St. Louis community and work with kids, so that I can form more connections.

David Shepard
Class of 2008
Washington University in St. Louis