9th grade at Chinese International School for me was a transformative one. I spent a year abroad in Hangzhou, China, where my entire grade and I immersed ourselves in Chinese culture. As part of this year abroad program, I was introduced to community service. I was appointed as the leader of The China Grassroots Football program, a community service group that went to an underprivileged school once a week. 

It was here that I gained valuable first-hand experience in coaching, service, and leadership. My group consisted mostly of my teammates on the soccer team, as we all shared the same passion for soccer. At first, we went to an autism school to teach children with autism how to play soccer. As a group, we found difficulty sharing our love for the game with them, since their attention spans were limited. Though we tried to continue working with the autism school, it didn't work out in the end. We switched to an underprivileged school in suburban Hangzhou for the second semester, and things started working out. We were able to communicate with the students clearly and we felt like we were genuinely forming connections and sharing our passion with them. 

That is why for this community service project, I am targeting children of the same age group, 8-12, as this is what I'm most experienced with.