Student Essay – By Gloria Wu

Over the past two and a half years, I’ve had the privilege of leading Rise Together, a project dedicated to providing opportunities and experiences for local youth, as well as developing friendships between different communities. The children we work with have often come from difficult childhood backgrounds, such as living in poverty, dangerous neighborhoods, or growing up in a single parent household.

Our main activity comes in the form of Friday “Fun Nights,” where I lead a group of 7 youth volunteers to serve Children of the King through cooking, cleaning, and other tasks to alleviate the adults’ workload. Most importantly, we foster community through ensuring the children’s safety, making sure that no one is left out, and above all, being a friend and someone that they can depend on.

In addition to our weekly activities, I lead various outdoor adventures every year. This past year, we had two main trips: a week-long trip to New Orleans, where thirty volunteers helped with hurricane relief work, and a week-long trip to Reynosa, Mexico. Our trip to Reynosa was a first of many sorts: not only were we leaving the country, but every single volunteer played an important part in the planning and preparation process. Partnering with the Rohi Foundation, we adapted a STEM activity, building catapults, and taught it to Mexican students ranging from kindergarteners to 12th graders. Despite a language barrier and a reduced number of volunteers, our Reynosa trip was still an immense success – every participant put their all into our activities and even smaller chores such as washing dishes, and formed meaningful connections with the students that we served. Not only was this a moving experience for our volunteers, but many of the Mexican children loved it as well. When surveying the children a few months later, 95% responded that the coolest thing that happened to them was our Rise Together service trip

In terms of fostering our heritage, I try to incorporate a bit of Chinese culture in our activities. For Chinese New Year, we decorated Children of the King’s Center with red lanterns, passed out red packets, and brought dumplings. We have also brought Chinese food for dinner, which was really well received by the adults. In the upcoming year, I hope to occasionally bring Chinese food for dinner, as well as host various cultural activities for the children. With a foster care organization that we partner with, Table of Grace, I am planning a paper cutting activity for the children.