Surakshya Aryal

I had the amazing opportunity to judge the DC Science Fair- Engineering submissions. We had numerous submissions from different schools in DC. And all of these people were so intelligent and passionate that they got amazing scores. We selected winners for each middle school and high school student. The judging was done way before the day of the fair. On the day of the fair, I actively volunteered for the entire event starting from helping the organizers to set things up, unpacking the snacks, helping students set up and settle down, and everything and everywhere the organizers needed us(all the Howard volunteers). Watching these kids present such amazing projects really reminded me of my school days. This one time I had made soap out of goat fat with my science teacher. It was such an amazing experience just to make something and talk about it. One of the high school students had even done machine learning and everything so early which was really impressive. This was a great opportunity to see where our future leaders or innovators are up to. To have the privilege to judge their projects was something I will always be proud of. Thank you so much for this opportunity.

My volunteering shift was from 1 pm to 4 pm on March 13, 2024. I believe this was one of the most impactful work I have ever done. I volunteered for a food bank once in summer 2022 and this was the only second time. My participation in packing food for elderly people in DC was very satisfactory and it has further motivated me to be more involved in the future. I met two people who volunteer there at least twice every week to pack food and anything else. Talking about the theme is really inspiring. I also got an opportunity to meet with different people such as a student federal employee to a group of employees from Capital One. We packed 426 boxes of food going directly to the elderly people including the aunt of one of the employees from the organization. I am really grateful for this class to have provided this opportunity to be exposed to satisfactory work like this. The feeling of helping provide food to a human being is everything to me especially when we have been witnessing food insecurity in every part of the world leading to deaths. Finally, I believe we should include these types of service learning in every class to allow students to even bond within themselves and provide something to the society.