Kraemer 1

Brady Kraemer
Professor Webber
Gateway to University Honors
30 September 2015
Passions Reflection
What? I am passionate about helping others around me. Mainly, I focus on brightening a
persons day. With everyone I come into contact with, I strive to make them leave happier than
they came. Greeting someone in the hallway or the elevator or simply telling someone how much
I appreciate them are the ways I accomplish this goal. In formal volunteer and missionary work, I
focus mainly on the poor and downtrodden. Habitat for Humanity in particular is a group that I
want to get involved with in college. Helping people brings me joy and personal satisfaction. I
believe the root of human existence lies in helping others and creating a better world for future
generations to inherit.
So What? Service transforms the world. Many influential people throughout history, like
Mahatma Gandhi and Mother Teresa, impacted their environments through serving others. In my
opinion, people have an obligation to better the lives of those around them. If each person strove
towards this goal, the world would be a different place, changed for the better. The
transformative power of service entices me. Every time I enter a service opportunity expecting to
help the intended community, but the people and the experience changes me. Gandhi famously
said, The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others. I have found
people in worse conditions of life than me have much to teach me about what I view as
necessities and what my values are. My passion for service has roots in high school for me. At
Elder, every semester the honors students were required to complete five service hours. During
my first two years, I served just enough to satisfy the minimum amount of service. However,
during my junior year I fell in love with the work that Habitat for Humanity and Cleanup Price
Hill were doing. Habitat for Humanity was helping the poor community circling Elder, providing
affordable housing to low-income families in need of a break. Cleanup Price Hill picked trash off
the streets, an action correlated to dropping crime rates in those communities. These
organizations were performing great works and had a severe want in terms of man power. I
sympathized with their cause because they were working to transform the world that many had
grown to accept as dismal and unchangeable. The main aspect of service which enthralls me are
the people which are the subjects of the charity. They have incredible stories and values which
put life into perspective for me.
Now What? I want to further my understanding of the different types of service
available. Already I have performed service close to home, but I would like to extend my
boundaries by serving in different places of America and the world. Because travel is another
passion of mine, serving beyond the borders of the United States will kill two birds with one
stone for me. Connecting service into my college career will be easy because a myriad of
opportunities, both at the University of Cincinnati and outside of it, exist. The PACE curriculum
of the University Honors Programs also pushes students towards Engagement in the campus and
community that has become their home. On campus, I will join Serve Beyond Cincinnati. This
organization supervises trips abroad to poor areas of the world in need of aid. In the past, they
have traveled to the poorest areas of Guatemala and Honduras to assist the people living there.
Outside of campus, I will get involved in Habitat for Humanity. Habitat for Humanity does
extraordinary work for the community right here in Cincinnati. Also, I have considered starting
Leadership Initiative Club, a club from Elder, my old high school. In this club, students met to

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make sandwiches for the homeless that hang around Paul Brown Stadium on Sundays. Through
my social fraternity, Pi Kappa Alpha, I plan to get heavily involved in the philanthropic and
service opportunities available. Already I am taking a trip to Appalachia Kentucky, one of the
poorest regions in the United States, to help build a house for the community.