第35章 吸收东西方养分的树会枝繁叶茂(5)

The memory of that little girl has been a great inspiration for me to use my resources to try to make a difference in the lives of others. I have been fortunateenough to have had opportunities at Catonsville High School to be of service. Iwas the president of the National Art Honor Society， whose goal is to make ourcommunity and the world a more beautiful place in which to live. To achieve thisgoal， we have done countless projects， making crafts and painting canvasses ranging from the face of an eager young child to graffiti covered walls. Last yearwe were even able to design and paint a mural for the local YMCA， raising over $1500 for the Johns Hopkins Children"s Center. I helped to make crafts， paint， write and edit articles for our monthly publication， The Palette， and organize events such as our annual community crafts fair and our art auction， where we soldour student pieces and did face painting for children. Seeing the glitter in theeyes of a child， whether it be from acquiring new hope that she will not alwayshave to be ill or simply from having a Sponge Bob Square Pants or a rainbow catpainted on her face， I have come to love volunteering， and it has taken on profound significance for me.

In addition， I volunteered as a tutor. I really enjoyed being able to help a fellow student understand something and improve. I remember one particular instancewhere my using the idea of a scale on which each variable was a weight to explain balancing an equation caused an instant epiphany.

Most recently， I volunteered at St. Agnes Medical Center， our community hospital. Being allowed to assist nurses in caring for patients as well as to observe surgery， I discovered that I want to spend the rest of my life as a physician so that I can help alleviate the pain of others.

Obviously the first major step for me is to get an education. This past year I completed my senior year of high school and was very fortunate to be named a member of the top 5% of my class， National Merit Finalist， Maryland Distinguished Scholar， AP Scholar with distinction， and of course the Elks National Foundation"smost valuable student. I graduated on June 2nd this year， and this fall I willbe attending the college of my dreams， Harvard， where I"ve wanted to go since Iwas about eleven years old.

In fact， I remember that day in early July， while passing through Boston when myfather first took me to see Harvard， and told me that it was one of the best universities in the world. I absolutely fell in love with its ivy covered brick walls and cast iron gates， and I said， "Dad， I think I"m going to Harvard" and I believe he just chuckled. So last December 15th when I received my acceptance letter at about 5∶13 pm I told my dad "Remember what I said when I was eleven？

Well， I think I"m going to Harvard."But of course after the initial excitement， what with calling everyone we knew，family， friends， cousin"s cousins and those people we once sat next to on an airplane， it kind of struck that we were facing a bill of about $45，000 a year forfour years. So what was the first thing we did？ We panicked.