Giving back to those around us and the community as a whole plays just as much of a part in our perception of others as it does with people’s perception of us. Because of this I believe it would be hard to truly be a part of a community or be seen as a scholar among peers if you aren’t also willing to give back. Some of my proudest moments come from various service projects I have done in the past, with most of them centering around the environment since our local rivers and woods have provided me with so much joy. Coming into Longwood I wanted to make sure to continue to work with/in the community and I found that to not only be possible but highly encouraged.

The main piece of service I took part in this year was the Longwood Bioblitz which took place in April of this year. The event was established to bring together a large group of environmentally interested individuals that would take part in a large one-day survey of living organisms present in Lancer Park. This was done to fulfill a couple goals, one being to bring together the Longwood and Farmville community, and the other to help contribute to previous scientific work done in the area. My role in all this was to help organize, setup, and run the whole event with some of my Longwood peers. I found this to not only be rewarding but also was able to see and quantify the work we did for the community.