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Community Service
SCHOLARSHIP ESSAY
CIVIC TECH & VOLUNTEERISM
hen Mr. Henderson handed me his smartphone, his hands were shaking. He was
trying to access a telehealth portal to schedule a follow-up appointment with his
cardiologist, but the labyrinth of digital menus and required authentication codes had
left him frustrated and defeated. As a high school junior volunteering at the circulation
desk of my local public library, I took five minutes to help him navigate the site. The
immense relief on his face made me realize a stark reality: in our race toward digital
innovation, we were leaving an entire generation behind.
That afternoon sparked the creation of the Digital Bridge Initiative, a community service
program I founded to teach foundational technology skills to senior citizens and low-
income residents in my community. Initially, I envisioned it as a simple weekly workshop.
However, I quickly discovered that the barriers to digital literacy ran deeper than just
knowing how to operate a device. Many of our attendees struggled with language
barriers, a fear of online scams, and a profound sense of isolation.
To address this, I shifted our approach from broad, lecture-style teaching to targeted, one-
on-one mentorship. I recruited a dozen of my classmates, and together we developed
instructional guides focused on practical, high-stakes tasks: accessing medical records,
paying utility bills online, setting up email accounts, and using video call software to
connect with distant family members. Over the past two years, we have assisted more
than three hundred residents. The most rewarding aspect of this service has not been
teaching someone how to use an application, but rather giving them back their
independence and dignity.
This community service experience fundamentally reshaped my career ambitions. Now,
as a freshman pursuing a degree in Information Systems with a minor in Public Policy,
my goal is to work in civic technology. I want to design public-facing digital infrastructure
—such as municipal service portals and state healthcare websites—that prioritize
