For my community service, I volunteered at the Christmas fair at my old grammar school. My mom acted as the photographer for “Pictures with Santa” and I was her oversized elf. Seeing my old teachers and just being in the place I spent a significant part of my childhood makes me simply nostalgic. I can relate to the 8th graders, thinking how every day is their last, but I still think that’s me. I have to say though, it’s so weird going back to grammar school and seeing things through a larger perspective. The bench outside the office was the last place you would want to be—I’m still amazed at how scared I was of the mere threat of being sent to the principal’s office. All of that seems insignificant compared to the fact that instead of going to the principal’s office you can be arrested, but I digress.
I can’t really say my service was absolutely essential to the community, sure I helped make some little kid’s day, but it’s not like other community service I have done with organizations like Special Olympics. But who knows what that kid is going through at home, just seeing their faces light up as they either ran chanting, “Santa, Santa, Santa!” or slowly walked toward him like he holds the fate of the world in his hands was something immeasurable. I definitely would continue to do this in the coming years like I have in the past, it’s impossible not to.