Mia Helmick

I have found ways to involve myself in leadership roles through volunteering. My school has their own thrift store and students that are on scholarship programs and financial aid, which I am apart of, are required at least four shifts per school year. I have been working there every few months or so since my freshman year and even though its a requirement, I love volunteering there. I have learned so much about working in retail and costumer service and I really enjoy it. Sometimes it may just be as simple as sorting or tagging clothes, or pricing house ware items but, what I enjoy the most is engaging with costumers at the jewelry counter where get to pull items out to show them and interact with them, building my costumer service skills. One of the challenges I faced volunteering there was when it was my second time working there and i was with no other workers or volunteers to help. There also wasn't a cash register. There was one of the paper pads that has a white sheet and a yellow sheet, one copy for the costumer and one for the store. The thing I didn't know at first was that the store got a copy, so l ended up writing a receipt and giving both copies away. Before that costumer left, an old man informed me that one of those copies was mine to keep, he could probably tell I wasn't all that sure how to manage those and was a little overwhelmed. I was able to catch the costumer right in time for my copy of the receipt, preventing any inconveniences towards the store and their inventory. I ended up making a lot of sales that day as it was a busy Saturday and I was so grateful to the kind, old man that enabled me to do my job to the best of my ability. Although the day started off to a rocky start, I learned a lot of problem solving and costumer service skills that have been continuing to grow as I have been volunteering there the past two years. Aside from the thrift store but still affiliated with my school, I got the privilege to volunteer for our singing camp. the Orange Lutheran choir students who volunteered helped raise money for our choir tour trip in Hawaii next summer where we get to share our voices to many different communities and see beautiful sights! As one of the upperclassmen leaders, I was put in charge of the clipboard, signing kids in and getting them all name tags and ensuring they had a parent at pick up to sign them out. I got to work with kids in the morning ranging from 1-4 grade and 5-9 graders in the afternoon, teaching them music and working with them in small groups. Each small group leader helped to break the ice with other campers and teach them a song they wanted to sing for when they performed at the end of the week in a combined performance with all age groups and even us leaders got to sing with them on stage for the big group numbers! This camp truly was a great experience for me as it not only helped me learn and grow as a leader it also allowed me to do something that I love and be able to share it with many kids that I hope to have made an impact on as they had impacted me.

I absolutely love babysitting. I have a three year old brother who helped me develop a lot of skills by watching him and helping my mom right from when he was born. Even before he was born I would babysit for family friends. One time I was managing one of the kids blood sugar, since she had type 1 diabetes, and I had to be sure to be attentive to her needs and alert in case of emergencies. I also got trained in middle school for CPR which when watching young children is essential to know. There are twins that I watch that are 4 years old now who I have been watching for years. They are like family to me and I enjoy watching them so much. Even if I don't get employed right away, I will still get to watch them because what do you mean I get to play with these adorable twins, laugh all day long, read them bed time stories, and get paid!? It's seriously such a gift to be able to watch them grow up and have two little bonus brothers!

I have helped fellow classmates who were struggling with math and chemistry. Math is not my best subject so I was surprised when my teacher asked if I could help out one of my classmates in my freshman algebra class. Im not the best at math, but algebra is definitely one I understand the most. The boy I helped was failing math and would have to do summer school if he didn't get his grades up but he wasn't very motivated to change that. That's where I came in. We would go to the counselors office during our math period and I would help break it down and explain it the best way that I could and go over our notes and review packets before tests and quizzes. Ultimately, I was able to help him pass the class at the end of the semester preventing him from having to do summer school. I felt really proud of him and for myself as well that I was able to help him in a subject I had always struggled with which just showed me how much more capable I am of things than I thought. The next year, I started chemistry which was one of my favorite classes and I happened to be pretty good at it. I struggled from time to time as one does in a hard class, but I understood it better than most. It was one of my first classes that I actually liked learning about and was interested in. Don't get me wrong, I worked really hard in that class to be able to understand so it didn't come naturally, but my curiosity is was drove me to success. I was able to help a bunch of friends and classmates throughout the year reteaching concepts in ways a fellow teenager would understand better, practicing challenging problems, preparing for tests and quizzes, etc. I plan to continue tutoring next school year as I love to be able to help my fellow classmates understand some of the more rigorous material school has to offer because I know how challenging school can be and just being a person they can relate to and benefit from is very rewarding.