Marine Science Institute (Hallmark 4)
Serving a community can amount to many things. Acts like picking up garbage, or volunteering on a Saturday afternoon at the local soup kitchen. Of course there is the initial speculation categorizing what the basis of what community service is, but I'm here to say that community service touches all forms of modern American life. The Marine Science Institute is a non-profit institution that encourages volunteering, while consistently empowering young adults to aspire to a level in which helping others learn becomes as familiar as learning itself. The main focus audience of MSI is elementary students, with the mission being to educate these students by introducing them to the marine wildlife which surrounds their area. And of course, with the end hope being that they, in any form, become environmental advocates. Being that MSI is a non-profit institution, they really encourage young adults to become not only volunteers, but physically engaged with the community and its learning. This not only is good for the students learning as this is an unusually exciting time to learn from non-adults, but also benefits the college students by understanding what type of impact teaching for a couple of hours has on people, and the community as a whole. This is EXACTLY how community service and MSI is directly correlated with each other because when you do either, it produces symbiotic relation with yourself and the other volunteers, while keeping and still emitting mutualism with the community and yourself. Protests, volunteering, and community involvement are all forms of community service and all are directly and deeply impacted my life. Back home, my two best friends are these two brothers, Juwan and Shawn. Being that they are African Americans, they are constantly and consistently racially profiled whether it'd be in stores, movies, or golf courses, they can always feel tenuous eyes starring. One day I get a call from their dad, explaining that there was a protest that was in the streets of Waikiki about civil rights, specifically black civil rights. This truly was the most influential thing I have ever had the pleasure to participate in because, like all areas of community service, even though i wasn't directly involved, i was directly affected by these injustices. So this is the same concept as introducing and educating the young about Marine life, because even though they are not involved per say, they are definitely affected. And to help enlighten any and all forms of the community is certainly worth my time.
