What does it mean to serve your community?

I think the meaning of “serve your community” is that you have to help and work for creating a fair society for everyone. I joined the youth program at the Minkwon Center for the Community Action. The Minkwon Center is a community center which meets the concerns and needs of the Korean American Community through several program areas such as youth, community advocacy, and social services. From this organization, I learned about the millions of undocumented youth, who came to the country with their parents at a young age, and their harsh lives here. In the United States, approximately 65,000 youth do not get an opportunity to attend elite colleges even though they are more able and willing to contribute an America’s bright future. They are always barricaded by an inherited title: an Illegal Alien. As I became more involved in this issue, I started to regret and became embarrassed by all my previous complaints about studying. I have attended a fancy private high school. I have my visa which identifies me as a legal student in America, and I attend college without any immigration problems. Nevertheless, I admittedly have complained about my school work without considering the undocumented students all over the nation who do not have the opportunities and benefits that I have. Then I began to pose the question to myself about what I could do for these students. The solution I finally approached was to participate in trying to pass the DREAM Act. DREAM Act is a legislation created to find pathway for undocumented to receive financial assistance to access college educations and eventually receive permanent residency and citizenship. The advocates of this act often make speeches in public and do outreach on the streets to spread the information about DREAM Act. During the summer of 2010, I participated many of MinKwon Center’s advocacy activities. I participated in the awareness of DREAM Act and share the lonely stories of undocumented students in front of the White House in Washington D.C. My enthusiasm was recognized by the members of the MinKwon Center who appointed me as a MYST (Minkwon Youth Support Team) Leader. As a MYST leader, I continue to lead and organize many youth in our community in order to eventually pass the DREAM Act and create a more promising future for our immigrant youth and American society.