Facebook is much more than a virtual world consisting of people posting pictures of their teacup-sized terrier or what they recently ingested for dinner.
Recently, I’ve found there are some great volunteer opportunities on the site as well. In fact, a couple months ago, I read a posting from Arkansas Community Foundation. They needed people to read scholarship applications and since I enjoy both reading and helping people, I responded to the posting.
A couple weeks later, I was contacted and asked to come to an information meeting on April 11. Turns out, this was also the fateful day the electricity went out at home and work. I was late to the meeting because my workday started two hours later – I was frazzled to say the least.
I showed up at their office located at Union Station and I’m handed a huge packet of applications. What did I sign myself up for? They review the simple instructions: read the applications, score the person and make comments if you want. I smiled and nodded (as usual) throughout the meeting and directions and eventually leave with two bundles applications. We are given about a week to read through the material and then asked to meet again on April 19.
That night, I unclipped one of the huge stacks and started to read. The first stack contains applications for college students hoping to get a poultry foundation scholarship. I don’t know what I was expecting, but chickens weren’t part of the plan. I asked myself, this time out loud, what did I get myself into?
Each application came with an informative scoring sheet, thank goodness. Within every application packet was the following: a personal narrative, two reference letters, the student’s transcript and resume. The scoring sheet was separated into five sections and a student could receive up to 100 points.
I propped my pillows up against the wall and began. I ended up reading for over an hour and I actually really enjoyed the task. Some of the applicants really needed the scholarship due to personal issues and others were so smart I almost cried. The opportunity to aid in the selection of one of these young people was really neat.
The following weekend, I finally opened the second clipped packet and found applications for the Political Animals Club. This time, the applicants were high school students and they had a much different tone. It was really fun to read applications from teenagers who wanted to make a difference by running for political offices like governor, state representative and mayor.
I was honestly inspired by what these students had to say. They wrote about causes like poverty, recycling, quality schools and how to retain good teachers. Evidently, they don’t spend all their time posting pointless status on the aforementioned Facebook. They are passionate about things other than Justin Bieber’s new haircut, or the new episode of Glee. Reading their narratives gave me hope – hope in mankind and the future of the world. Well, maybe not the world, but the future of the South.
It took me the full week to read through all of the applications, but I eventually finished and I learned a lot about the world of poultry and what kids do when they don’t spend hours on Facebook or in front of a computer game. Wow, I think I’m getting old.