I think the Park program at NC State
really helped shape me and my leadership skills
in very wonderful ways.
Through that I was the publicity manager for Service Raleigh in its tenth year,
so I was able to get the word out to students
about this wonderful day of service and we ended up having
a thousand more people try to sign up for it than we had spots for.
So that was really exciting and
through that I was able to learn how to be in charge of
a subcommittee within a larger committee
and those different levels of bureaucracy.
We had trips to Washington, DC
where I was able to talk to a Supreme Court justice
and the publisher of USA Today
and lots of different experiences like that that
I don't think I would have had if I hadn't had that experience.
I was also put into a community of people that remains
a good support system for me
and just quite pragmatically
because of the financial gift that they bestowed upon me
I was able to partake in so many other extracurricular activities,
particularly study abroad, that I wouldn't have been able to if I hadn't had that.
In fact in one of the trips to the Galapagos they
even additionally helped me with some travel costs for that.
So the Park program was truly a blessing on my college career.