Thomas Assaf
October 15, 2021
Moreau - Retartha
What do I believe?
I believe that I am searching for the value in life. When you think of value the first thing you think of is money and assets, but I am thinking of value as in when you are finished with your life you truly believe that you made a positive impact on the world, and you have a family and or people around you that you are proud of. To do this you must be driven by the right reasons, this makes me think of my parents. My father who is a lifelong educator who went to went to college on scholarship because it was the only way for him to get a college education, and with his skillset that his was so gifted at which was leadership and being able to get stuff done he could have become a CEO or leader of a company, but instead he wanted to teach and lead the new generation and change lives. He saw the true value even if it was just changing one kid's life through education. My mother who is also a lifelong educator, who earned her Ph.D. in leadership and policy development, worked in schools then took a break to spend time my brothers and I, but when she took this break, she started Keeping Pace, a summer program for underprivileged youth from the inner city of Atlanta, sacrificing time from her family to better these kids’ lives. This program which I have worked with extensively started with just 10 kids and now hosts around 70 each summer. This story also brings in the question of I believe that my purpose in this life is? This program has shown me early in my life what value I have found, but to see the value in what I did working at Keeping Pace it took me working at a YMCA overnight camp in the summer where the cost per camper per week is around $1,300. I loved working at this camp and teaching these kids about God and helping them grow, but I did not feel as if I was doing something that was my purpose, like someone else could have done what I was doing at this YMCA camp. I saw my true purpose at Keeping Pace where I could support these kids and help more kids be included in the program, because the more veteran counselors we had the more kids we could accept into the program. I believe that my community must be strong to make sure we get through the hardest times. This brings me back to my senior year of high school; it was the homecoming game against our biggest rival. In the second half one of our star plays was hit cleanly in the chest and in a fluke of an accident he got very injured, he walked off the field which is insane considering not even 30 mins later he was in an ambulance on the way to the hospital while he was crashing and his brain was bleeding. He was the first of this injury to ever happen and was in a medically induced coma. As my dad’s position at my school was headmaster and me being a senior on the football team and being seen as the main student communicator from administration to students. I saw people from all over our community reaching out not just our school community but the Atlanta community. I was constantly spreading updates on the player’s condition and organizing prayers and card signing for the player and his family. This showed me that my community is not just my school or who I hang out with, rivals or not everyone reached out and did their part. I believe I am responsible for being my best self and helping the people around me become my best self. I see this in my 4 older brothers, they are all amazing examples for what I should strive to be like and what people I should surround myself with. I think I have had a great advantage when I was growing up because I always had someone to ask, from my parents to brothers, but specifically my brothers’ friends. From talking to one of my brothers’ friends who was a former Gateway that made sure I choose Gateway which was the best choice I could have made to my brother’s friends helping me learn python at 3 in the morning before my midterm. I believe that the best way to grow is to teach and mentor others. I expired and saw this the most during my senior year of lacrosse when I became friends with the freshmen and sophomores on the team, while I was 2-4 years older than all these kids. I learned much about myself on what habits I had when I was their age and what habits I should help them learn not only in life, but in lacrosse when teaching them to play the game. I am still in contact with these younger kids and having a couple of them visit me this year so I can try to convince them to come to Notre Dame. These kids also gave me the chance to be an older brother to someone as a youngest child I never got the chance to. I believe I am made to help others. While I hope to enter the Business world, I want to use what I make financially and what knowledge I consume to help others no matter who they are. This makes me think of something Father Bill of Pangborn said at mass this past week, quoting another priest he knew “If you ignore the poor you go to hell.” That was what this priest would say for his homily when the readings were what they were. Money cannot make someone go to heaven or make someone a good person, but a good person with money can help create opportunists for others that they would never have in the first place. Which is why I want to endow a scholarship for first generation college students one day.