Volunteering

SALTT trips are some of my favorite memories from ILS. This club is something that I have been able to be apart of since freshmen year and I have never not had fun when participating in the trips. One memory I'll never forget is playing tag with one of the kids this past October. We had a bunch of stations with halloween-related activities for the kids, but the entire time we were there, all this one kid wanted to do was play tag.

He made my experience so much fun. I loved being able to help the kids with their homework, watch them decorate cookies and cupcakes, do arts and crafts, and trick or treat. On top of the experience itself, we are also given 5 service hours for every trip.

Once in sophomore year and once in senior year, I was able to donate blood, as the blood donation bus came to ILS for the HOSA club. It was a pretty cool experience, as its hard to imagine that you could be saving someone's life in just 15 minutes, because that is all it took. It was also fun because I donated blood at the same time as my friends, so we were able to talk to each other. The plasma donations were also interesting, as I was watching the machine separate the plasma from the blood.

I enjoyed these experiences and I would recommend donating blood because it's rewarding all around: you get to save lives and you can get service hours. I got 10 service hours per donation.