I started going to Girls Inc. in elementary school. I remember begging my mom to let me go after school because at first I was just doing sports there but all of my friends were doing their after-school programs. I participated in their gymnastics, volleyball, and basketball programs. It is where my love for volleyball started, which played a major role in my life moving forward. 

Once I started high school I started volunteering over the summers and some during the school year. Volunteering there I made several relationships with the girls that just continued to grow throughout my time volunteering. After graduating high school, I began to work at the Girls Inc. summer camps where all of the relationships I had made with these girls continued to grow. I volunteered/ worked at Girls Inc. for seven summers straight. Without my early experiences at Girls Inc., I would have never even thought about volunteering there once I was old enough. After volunteering I realized how much I enjoy working with kids and in my future career, I knew I wanted to do something involving helping kids. 

During my college summers working there and seeing girls who I first started working with when they were kindergartners now in fifth grade I knew how much these relationships meant to me over the years and also how much I meant to these girls. Nothing made me smile more than coming through the doors of Girls Inc. if I was visiting home from school and seeing the smiles of all of the girls I hadn’t seen since summer. Now that I am a senior in college at Purdue University, I have accepted a position as a registered nurse at Riley Hospital for Children and I credit a lot of the skills and experiences I had at Girls Inc. that helped me get that position. Girls Inc. taught me at a young age that I can do anything I set my mind to and when I was older made me realize how much I love working with children and making a difference in their lives!