Community Service Project - Jorge

 The community project I worked on was the “Virtual Cancer Walk” Hosted by the Senior Class of 2021. It took place via zoom but everyone put their part in the walk by walking around a significant site with a luminary and non-fire candle raising awareness and collecting fundraising for a donation to John Hopkins University in research for cancer patients. We wore colors that represented cancer that we mostly signify, I wore pink for breast cancer as it was in fact something that impacted my family. The organization that sponsored the event was the Senior class which I am a part of since I am graduating this semester. As I was walking along a public trail nearby my home, I picked up garbage along the way with my dog assisting me.  The reason why I chose this project is because of how I can make a difference and raise awareness through a convenient way through zoom and with my hectic schedule.

Another reason why I chose this event is that I believe cancer may be very confusing for some individuals to understand. Since many different types of cancer inflict on different people, there is no constant of what treatment may be the best. It can be unique to everyone since the survivors' cells are changing rapidly ending up harming them in the process. Throughout my high school career, I participated in multiple walk-a-thons and even co-hosted a relay for life event. These served as great experiences leading me to continue on my community service through my collegiate career. Therefore, support to cancer patients and those affiliated take a special place within my motivation. I decided to add another dose of service by cleaning up a local trail that has not been sustained ever since the start of the covid-19 pandemic resulting in my town prioritizing other issues. This left the trail full of trash and other litter that I thought should be cleared up for the environment and wildlife. 

What was quite interesting during the virtual cancer walk was how I discovered that other companies support the same initiative through donations, although this may just be a monetary donation there is a lot of support coming from them to cancer research.  

I believe that companies and other institutions should shed light on how research is being done and what they have done to support that research. Since the actual research can be confusing for some, this creates opportunities for firms to further research ways to expose how their products may prevent or assist in preventing especially through stressing with the California proposition 16 act of identifying potential cancer-causing substances.