“My main service site has been at Good Shepherd Home Care and Hospice. While I have had the chance to attend bereavement group meetings and other events, my main job has been to do house visits with a patient while her husband and caretaker is able to get some rest or run errands. In just a few short months, I feel that I have already grown so much through this experience. I have seen the devastating aspects of having a debilitating health condition for both the patient and his or her loved ones, but in spite of those hardships, I am inspired by the compassion and selflessness that the caretakers have. It is really uplifting and beautiful to see that although they have experienced great sorrow in seeing their loved one being taken away from the person they used to be, how much they sacrifice without any thought. I feel fortunate to help both the caretaker and the patient, and love when I see a glimmer return to the patent’s eyes or a brief smile.” -Kaitlyn Potts
“My main service sight is Salt Lake City Peer Court. It’s every Monday from 5pm to 8pm at the Matheson Courthouse. The court is comprised of a Peer Panel, a group of volunteer high school students like myself from varying backgrounds. We will hear about 6-8 cases every night. Salt Lake City students of all ages are referred to Peer Court for various reason ranging from truancy, to theft, assault, and drug use. As panel members we hear their case, ask question of the student and their family, and then we decide on the best way to help the student. Options vary from community service to community gardening. Every case is assigned a Panel member for a mentor, who will call once a week and check up on them. I currently have three mentees that I’m in contact with. It is a really fun way of serving kids my own age, gaining a better perspective of myself, and trying to help out my peers.” – Sage Geher
“This year I have conducted my local service hours as the Real Life Intern at the Scott School. I enjoy working the Real Life Programming for my service site because I get to work with the teenagers from Hser Ner Moo Center, as well as Scott School. I really enjoy getting to know the teenagers from both these sites because I feel that you can learn so much from interacting with them for just a short time. I also enjoy this service site because it has helped me develop my leadership skills as the Real Life Intern. I currently work with the Hser Ner Moo teens at the Hser Ner Moo Center, and it is really fun to interact with the teenagers in a different setting than I do at the Hser Ner Moo Center.” -MacKenzie Mitchell
“I volunteer at the Veterans Hospital as a transport helper. In this job I help move patients to where they need to go in the hospital as well as delivering patient labs to be tested. I volunteer at the hospital twice a week for two to three hours each time. I have had a few memorable moments while working at the hospital from getting lost to talking to the veterans and learning about how they are doing after they served in the wars. The veterans are very nice and a pleasure to serve. The best days of my week are when I go to volunteer.” –Megan Clark
“I have loved my time volunteering with Primary Children’s Hospital. As a volunteer, you are mostly responsible for making sure that the patients and siblings are as comfortable as possible by playing games, making crafts, taking walks, and anything else that the patient needs. The main goal is to make the children forget, as much as possible, that they are in a hospital. The best part of the experience is to see the smiles that you can put on children’s faces when they have gone through so much. It is really inspiring to see how brave these kids are, and I am glad I am able to volunteer at Primary Children’s because I gained so much the experience.” – Brooke McAffee
“I volunteer at the NICU in the Jordan Valley Hospital. I go every week for 5 hours. I help restock baby clothes, supplies, hold crying babies, feed them, etc.! I have loved it so much and I’m really glad I could do this! My most memorable moment would have to be when I witnessed a c-section! It was an amazing experience and surprisingly it wasn’t gross at all! I love seeking all the tiny babies and watching them progress and see them when they finally get to leave home.” – Kendall Burgess
“Real Life has been a wonderful experience for me. I love being able to meet people my age who have a different culture than my own. The teens are so inspiring, and they just make me want to travel to the countries they are from and understand the world better. They make me happy and it feels so great to know that I am helping them to be happy, too. Choosing Real Life as my main service site was the best decision I’ve made in a long time.” – Maren Morgan
