HELPING OTHERS
S C H O L A R S H I P A PPL I CAT I O N ES SAY • PR E - L AW & A DVO CACY
FOR THE PAST TWO YEARS,
my Thursday evenings have been spent in the
fluorescent-lit basement of our local community center, sitting across from adults
twice my age. As a volunteer adult literacy tutor, my job is ostensibly to teach
phonics, sentence structure, and basic reading comprehension. However, the reality
of helping others in this context is far more profound. I will never forget watching
Mr. Ramirez, a fifty-two-year-old construction worker, carefully trace the letters of his
own name on a standardized job application for the first time. The pride in his eyes
was palpable, but it was heavily shadowed by the sheer exhaustion of navigating a
society that treats illiteracy as a moral failing rather than a systemic gap.
Initially, I approached volunteering with a naive savior complex. I thought
helping others simply meant donating my free time to "fix" a localized problem. But
working with these adult learners quickly dismantled that arrogance. My students
are incredibly intelligent, resilient individuals who were simply denied early
educational access due to geographic or economic circumstances. I realized that true
altruism is not paternalistic; it is a partnership. It requires patience, deep empathy,
and the humility to recognize that while I might be teaching them how to read a
rental lease agreement, they are teaching me about perseverance, dignity, and
survival.
This realization has entirely dictated my academic path. I am currently a
sophomore majoring in Political Science with a minor in Spanish. My career goal is to
become an immigration and labor rights attorney. I want to advocate for the very
same individuals I tutor on Thursday nights—people who are routinely exploited by
predatory landlords and employers simply because they cannot read the fine print of
