Gary Soto

As a student growing up in a world, where people are too preoccupied with themselves to appreciate beauty around them, I noticed that most of the people surrounding me seemed only concerned with making themselves look good on paper. By this I mean, they busied themselves with extra AP courses, proving to themselves and others that they could carry the load of work that would make them successful in the future. I am not trying to say that what they were doing was wrong or bashing them for being over-achievers, but what I did notice was that through all the work they were lacking in emotional maturity, they were too busy to enjoy what was around them and it was when I stopped and looked that I understood that there was something that I genuinely cared about.

I stimulated my emotional growth through my community service project. I was introduced to a lady who ran a foundation named the Possible Dream Foundation, a service that raised kids with mental disabilities, especially Down Syndrome. I offered to volunteer out of politeness and lack of any other community service oppurtunities without knowing how fond I would grow of the people I was to care for in the following years.

At first I volunteered sporadically, often in moments where I felt I lacked the scruples that I should have, but over time I realized that I truly cared for what I did. The innocent, pure faces of children, untainted by the "evil"