Hi! My name is Samantha White, and I live in Greenacres, Florida. I am 15 years old and a Senior Girl Scout. This is my journey to finding my passion!
For kindergarten, 1st, and 2nd grade, I had the same teacher who elected us to complete and present a project every, single, month. To be honest, it seemed like a ridiculous and arduous task that would cause me to beg for some help from my parents and then face the unfortunate assignment of presenting in front of my entire class of peers. I would stand in front of the room, my heart beating out of my chest, hands shaking, always wondering when this seemingly infinite presentation would end. I dreaded every month’s presentation. However, as each one of the 30 presentations went by, my heart began to slow down, my hands stopped shaking, and I stood up a little taller. I grew to love to opportunity to share my work with my peers. I was proud of the fact that I could tell all my friends about the information I had learned. I grew to LOVE public speaking. It seemed crazy that my feelings towards a presentation could go from dread to excitement, but three years changes a lot about someone and speaking in front of others was my new favorite thing; something I thank my Kindergarten teacher for to this day.
I have been in Girl Scouts for ten years and gained tons of skills and sold thousands of cookies! However, the biggest thing that I gained from this program was my passion for communications. I completed a public speaking patch a few years back and realized how incredible the beauty of public speaking is and using your voice to speak up. It gave me the opportunity to go on live news stations, be interviewed by radio stations, featured in newspaper articles, and so much more! Yet, most of all it gave me the will to reach out in other areas of my life to grow my newfound passion. I applied and was accepted into a performing arts school for communications, where I got to take a deep dive into all the aspects of communications that I learned to love so much. I became a member of the newspaper crew, an award-winning student news show, and became a member of my schools’ speech and debate team.
I walked into the introductory meeting of speech and debate in sixth grade not knowing much about it but wanting to learn more. After that first meeting, I fell in love with the idea of being able to write speeches and share my voice and ideas with the world. I wanted to be able to grow my skills and have an awesome hobby, but I never knew how important speech and debate would become in my life. I ended up making it to the quarter finals of Speech and Debate Nationals two years in a row, meeting some of my best friends and mentors, and eventually becoming president of my schools’ team.
I took my voice to another important place in my life: church. I became a lector and stood up every Sunday to read words of God to my church’s parishioners. It was such a great opportunity to combine my place of worship with my passion of public speaking.
Still a member of Girl Scouts, a lector, a speech and debate competitor in high school, and a girl working towards a major in Multimedia Journalism, I am so proud of the road I have taken because of Communications. I have been able to learn about myself as well as my community and my world as a whole. I would tell anyone to take a chance, try out something new, and explore your options because you never know when you will find your communications, and have a passion to explore and learn from throughout the rest of your life!