Please describe your involvement in any type of community service (non-medical or medical). Please limit your answer to one page.

My community service involvement has developed with a graduated evolution of my life and experiences through church, high school, college, and my adult life, post-undergraduate study.

My sisters and I were raised going to a filipino United Methodist Church, so nearly every Sunday was spent with our church family. Our community service did not start until adolescence. As members of our youth group, we would teach Sunday school for the children, serve food to the less able-bodied senior citizen members at our church and the local poor and needy, and maintain the church facilities. Through the years, we worked with the same 10-15 youth members who we grew up with. From our upbringing, it was not considered “community service” but simply as “just something we do”. These experiences taught me humility and consideration for someone else, developing the value in service and not reward.

Through church, the youth group members were introduced to Christmas Institute (C.I.), a Christian church camp for youth and young adults. From my positive experience at C.I. as a camper, and as a youth coordinator for the youth members of my church, I was compelled to be more involved with the camp and its leadership. Not only was there a sense of service, but also nurturing and community. As a staff member, then camp counselor, and finally a member of the camp's Creative Team, I found great purpose in service among others with a similar passion for the youth. This long-term service required commitment, effort, preparation, and most importantly, connection. The Counselor-Staff Trainings were five periodic overnight trainings throughout the year to ready the C.I. leadership for running the camp as a unit. We learned our mission, the lesson plans, our legal obligations, how to relate to our campers, and how to work with each other. Members of the Creative Team were required to put in more time than counselors and staff with brainstorming, planning, rehearsing, and working in concert with the Design Team for the camp’s materials. I relish human connection, and service is an amazing way to experience that. It was through my investment with C.I. that I discovered I could be a leader and a key team player.

At the University of California, Irvine I joined Phi Sigma Rho, the national social sorority for women in engineering and engineering technology. The women of Phi Sigma Rho understand the rigors of having a science major and hold friendship, scholarship, and encouragement in high regard. We volunteer for the Girl Scouts of America’s Engineering Day, the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life, and Mathematics, Engineering, Science Achievement (MESA) Day for middle school and high school student competitions. For these three organizations, we helped with setup and distribution of materials and facilitating activities for young girls, people affected by cancer, and for students interested in the sciences. These causes are very important to me because I value health and life, nurturing the scientific endeavors of young people, and supporting them emotionally and academically.

The art of encouragement is something I learned to develop and grew more and more important to me as my involvement deepened. When people, especially the young people, are nurtured and encouraged to excel, they feel a sense of pride, acceptance and self-worth. Community service, work done without expecting anything in return, connects people, builds them up and fosters social, mental, and physical health.