Alumni Spotlights celebrate the journeys, experiences, and impact of Youth Central’s former volunteers beyond their time with the organization. Through interviews conducted and written by youth bloggers from Youth Are Awesome, these stories aim to inspire current youth while reconnecting alumni through shared experiences, lessons learned, and the different paths they’ve taken since their involvement with Youth Central.
Hero’s Journey
Pawan was a “painfully reserved” kid ever since elementary, an academic rat who would rather study than socialize. Outside of school, her time was vacant. As she wanted to give back to her community, Pawan joined the Youth Central community. With time, she accumulated 800+ hours worth of experience and stories. From waking up early for breakfast Salvation Army shifts to helping seniors pick out their grad gowns, the once quiet student grew out of her shell.
But this volunteer journey does not end at “shy girl becomes confident leader, wow!” The seed that Youth Central planted had grown into a grandiose tree, sprouting branches that each produced its own fruit.
A Sense of Belonging
Pawan’s love for volunteering naturally drew her to others of the same mindset. By volunteering at the same events, she would keep meeting the same people over and over. They would get ice cream or dinner after events, harboring connections that are still kept alive to this day. The group was diverse, different age groups, different schools, and different parts of the city.
“These are people you wouldn’t have crossed paths with otherwise.”
During her time at the Youth steering committee, Pawan met Ros, the program director. Ros acted as a mentor for her – guiding her through times of doubt, giving life or career advice when she needed it.
Mentorship is an insane multiplier for personal growth. Pawan characterized a mentor not necessarily as someone who’s older than you, but someone with more life experience. They lead you down life’s path, warning you against the common stumbling blocks that they and many others have tripped over.
Finding a career
How is it possible to be interested in something you’re not aware of? Answer: it’s not. Volunteering introduces you to people of all different walks of life, significantly broadening your horizons. The best way to gain perspective isn’t through personal pondering and reflection, but rather throwing yourself out there and tuning your ears to absorb it.
For Pawan, she never knew about hackathons before Youth Central, a discovery that opened a whole new world of possibilities. Hackathons are events where participants collaborate to solve a problem by inventing a product, usually using code (explaining the name “HACKathon”) in order to gain a cash prize. Now, she works in a job that requires coding in her everyday life!
The baseline.
While you’re young, it may seem like the only thing that really matters is studying to get into a good university, and work hard to get a good job. However, Pawan emphasizes how none of this is possible without a baseline; your health.
Throughout her high school years and early university, Pawan was able to get by pulling all-nighters and drinking copious amounts of caffeine. After the loss of a loved one due to health complications, Pawan was faced with the harsh truth. Health is not something to be taken for granted, and everyone is responsible for their own.
From there, Pawan completely turned her life around. She now goes to the gym six times a week, and genuinely enjoys it. Challenging your body inevitably builds discipline, as you’re pushing through discomfort it would’ve otherwise avoided. It also releases happy hormones!
“It was daunting at first, but it’s been one of the best decisions I’ve ever made for my personal development.”
Final Thoughts
While I was listening to Pawan’s story, I was thoroughly impressed by how much she’s evolved. It seemed to me that each and every aspect of her life improved significantly. Once shy and antisocial, now able to strike up conversation from nothing with anyone. Once in the doomful pit of poor health, now basically a health genie. So I asked her one more question, what is your biggest piece of life advice?
“Work hard. Have integrity. Believe in who you are and stand up for what you think is right.
Hard work will take you further than your degree, your family’s background, where you’re from, or how much money you have. Those things can’t replicate genuine effort. And if you say you’re going to do something — follow through. That builds self-belief. If you put your mind to something and do it, you learn that you’re capable of hard things.”