Volunteer, Personal Statement Example

Volunteering at a hospital will be very beneficial to me because I am a nursing student. For most people, a hospital is a sad, gloomy place because of all the sickness and death; however, I look at it as a place of hope. There are so many people around the world who do not have access to the health care they need. People who are in the hospital need nurses and staff members who are optimistic and encouraging. I have always had a desire to help others; likewise, I take personal joy in encouraging and changing people’s perspective in a positive way. Volunteering at a hospital will be an invaluable experience for me.

A person’s actions can have either a negative or positive effect on one’s life. Ironically, you can even be unaware of how the person has affected you. I had such an experience many years ago when I was in elementary school. My third grade teacher had assigned the students a project. This project included using food coloring and sand to make a Christmas card for a person we cared about. I chose to construct a card for my mom. My mom was and still is very important to me because she has had such a positive impact on my life. She raised my siblings and me as a single parent. She worked several dead end jobs to make ends meet for us. We were poor, but she ensured that we had the things we needed. Having only the things we needed was very difficult for me. I was often teased about not having the same things that other students had. So, when my teacher assigned this, I knew I wanted to do a great job and make my mom an outstanding card because that would be the only gift she would receive from me.

The teacher provided us with a small Ziploc bag of sand each and a choice of two different food colorings-I chose red and green. We had to first draft what we would do on a plain white sheet of copy paper and then we could get our sheet of construction paper to do or final project. I remember drawing a Christmas tree on the outside and writing a letter on the inside. I told her how much she meant to me and how much I appreciated everything she did for us. Once we finished, we had to place our cards in the window sill to dry. At the end of the day, the teacher presented each card to the class. When she held mine up she said, “Students this is what happens when you take pride in your work”. I was so proud of myself and what she said made me feel so good about my work. The students gathered around to look at my card.

This memory has remained with me all these years. Unknowingly, this teacher had laid the foundation for me to continue to do a great job at whatever I decided to do. The feeling of accomplishment was something that could not be met by any other feeling. Even today, when I begin an assignment or project, my goal is to do it to the best of my ability. Although a teacher’s job is to inspire and set a fire in students, some teachers are better at it than others. My mother still has that card. All of the sand has fallen off and it has been faded by time, but she has cherished it all these years. Symbolically, that conveys to me that when you do a great job it will not be forgotten.