My Greatest Impact

As a sophomore in high school, I came to the conclusion that I wanted to be able to, somehow, make a difference. I wasn’t sure how I would do this, or in what way, but I dreamed big. I decided my goal was to leave the world off a little better than before. I thought that in order to do this, I would need to help on a global scale.. solve climate change, combat world hunger, decipher the clues to providing clean drinking water. Little did I know, my greatest impact would be in my own city. When I began volunteering at St. Louis Children’s Hospital, I wondered just how I would be able to make my impact. After all, I am only one seventeen-year-old-girl. However, over the past year, I have come to the realization that some of my greatest

If there is one thing I have learned, it is that making an impact does not have to be some large, grandiose deed, for the impact quite often comes in the smallest of gestures. I came to this conclusion after an experience I had, one that still stands out in my mind today. I had been in the playroom during one of the slower nights when there had been a call for a two-year-old girl wanting a friend. Eager to be able to contribute, I gathered up a few toys and made my way to her room. As I walked down the hallway, I could hear the unmistakably loud cries of an unhappy child. I thought to myself, “Well, this ought to be a challenge.” Although, to my surprise, the first thing I saw when I walked through the door was a tear-ridden face change in a matter of seconds. She now had an enormous smile almost the size of her entire body. The nurses weren’t lying when they said all she had wanted was a friend. We spent time playing with her toys, but as the night grew longer, she became sleepier. She soon lost interest in her toys and began to hold her arms up all stretched out. As I picked her up, her little head rested on my shoulder as she drifted off to sleep. I sat with her for about thirty minutes before it was time for me to go, and it was