The Greater Susquehanna Valley Chamber of Commerce is pleased to recognize Hannah Shriver as this year's Young Americans Essay Scholarship Awardee. Read Hannah's prize-winning essay below, and know that the future is bright, thanks to students like our outstanding Young Americans!
Pictured: Jenny Wentz, GSVCC Executive Director of Operations (far left), Hannah Shriver (Center) and family, and Ed Moyer, Chair of the Young Americans Committee (far right).
For this year's Young Americans Scholarship essay contest, each student was rated on criteria including an essay that was neat and complete, grammar and spelling, overall quality, and the student's response to the following three questions: "What does it mean to you to be a Young American?", "Where do you see your leadership skills taking you over the next five years?" and "How do you plan to grow and develop your leadership skills over the next five years? Outline at least two goals and your plans for achieving them." Below is Hannah's winning essay.
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Young American Scholarship Essay
by Hannah Shriver
Being selected as a Young American is a great honor. It is an achievement to be both proud of and to take seriously. Being named a Young American means being identified as a leader and a good role model for fellow students. To me, leadership means having an attitude of service. Being a leader is about helping others to become the best people they can be, teaching people to become leaders themselves, and making your community a better place. Being a Young American means there are other students looking to me as a role model, which is a big responsibility. It means treating others with kindness and having a positive attitude. It means being responsible and prepared. It means being an advocate for my peers. Being a role model doesn't mean that a person can never make a mistake, but rather that when a mistake is made, the person takes responsibility for their actions and tries again.
In the future it is my desire to continue to be a valuable asset to my community. This summer I plan to volunteer as a camp counselor at Wesley Forest, a local Christian summer
camp. Starting this fall I will be attending Bloomsburg University where I will have several opportunities to become a leader in my community. I have been accepted into the Honors
College and as a member of the Honors College I have a certain number of community service hours to complete each year. Additionally, it is my hope to take a community service project I have established at a local church and continue it at Bloomsburg. Last spring I.started a food bank called Bread of Life Food Ministry as a project for my Girl Scout Gold Award. I earned my Gold Award in November 2021 but decided to continue serving those in need through my food bank. So far I have dedicated upwards of 120 hours and have been able to provide over 1000 meals to 300 people. It is my hope to continue this ministry while attending Bloomsburg.
One of my goals for the next five years is to expand my food ministry to be able to reach more people in need and to grow the group of people who run it. Currently I do all of the planning and securing of food. I receive help from family, friends, and volunteers to execute my plans. However, with the prices of groceries going up there are more families that need help. With the influx of people experiencing food insecurity, my work load is increasing. My biggest goal is to find someone else who can help me run the food bank. Once I have one or more people secured and trained it is my hope to expand the ministry to other areas.
My second goal for the next five years is a long term goal. I currently attend a youth group and after graduation I plan to become a youth leader. I will have to be trained and get my clearances to do this. Over the course of my four years at college I plan to come back to my home community to continue to lead the younger generations. By the time I graduate college it is my and the current youth director's hope that I will take over her leadership position as youth director. In order to achieve this goal I need to spend the next four years learning how to successfully lead a youth group. Through these different goals my networking and organizing skills will grow, as will my other leadership skills. One area of leadership I find challenging is being assertive. I am a naturally quiet and easy going person so sometimes asserting myself is out of my comfort zone. It is a skill that I have found is extremely necessary for getting things done effectively. Therefore it is something that I have been forced to practice and improve at. Leading a group of young adults and expanding my food ministry will help me to continue improving my leadership skills. One of the best lessons that being a leader has taught me is that the best thing you can do to improve your skills is to put yourself in situations that force you to use them.
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Congratulations Hannah, on a job well done - on this essay and in all your accomplishments.
