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Aneet Sidhu
Mr. Olszyk
Religion IV - D
26 February 2016
Reflection Paper
In December of 2013, I started to volunteer at St. Jude Medical Center in Fullerton. I first
started volunteering with the intention of getting required service hours and being able to put the
experience on my college applications. However, this experience was beyond what I expected.
Apart from an application element, my volunteering experience has taken me to my personal
heights of learning. I have learned many valuable lessons about life and service to others. It
helped me to understand what it means to truly help others. It not only further sparked my
interest in the medical field, but volunteering has also helped me grow as an individual. I plan to
continue to volunteer at the hospital until I leave for college.
In order to learn and acquire new skills, I have volunteered in many different areas in the
hospital throughout my years. As a receptionist at the Orthopedics Department, my job was to
ensure error-free communication among the nurse within and outside of the department. By
communicating with professionals from nearly all medical fields, I learned to communicate
effectively with patients and hospital staff under stressful environments where, more often than
not, the phone calls had the potential to be a critical aspect to providing quality patient care. In
the Director of Programs office, I worked on administrative tasks. Working under the Director, I
learned about the positive impacts of working in a detail-orientated work environment and the
negative consequences of overlooking minute information. My time at the E.R. gave me a first-

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hand experience to see patients suffering from minor pain to critical patients whose lives were in
danger.
After my first few months of volunteering, I learned about the Youth Leadership Team.
The Youth Leadership Team organizes an event each year to raise funds to support St. Jude
Medical Centers Care for the Poor Program. This program provides the underinsured and
uninsured citizens of our community with free comprehensive medical care. The program also
provides much needed assistance to our homeless and senior populations. I wanted to be on this
team to be more involved with the hospital and to make a greater impact in our local community.
As a leader of the Youth Leadership Team at the hospital, I helped raise $10,000 for families
without health insurance. Unknowingly, I learned the skills of raising funds and successfully
organizing an event.
Volunteering needs commitment, self-discipline, love, and passion to serve others. It
helped me self-improve, become more confident, and passionate about serving others. I met and
learned from a range of new people and created memories that will last a life time. Giving back
is one of the greatest gifts that I experienced, seeing first-hand how my time or effort can help
make the lives of others better.