Dedication to Others
Eve Glenn started volunteering when her father was stationed at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs. Only 4 years old, she was thrilled to be asked by her older brothers to join in their efforts to clean up a community school and enjoyed helping out so much that she made it part of her everyday life. Fast forward 13 years and 11 moves later, and the vivacious 17-year-old has volunteered more than 1,900 hours during high school alone. Her altruism was one of the reasons she was recently honored as the 2018 Air Force Military Child of the Year, a national award.
Eve has made it a point to use her interests and strengths to find volunteer opportunities whenever her family was stationed somewhere new. She’s volunteered for military organizations, mentored new Irish dancers and tutored children in science, technology, engineering and math.
“It doesn’t just make me feel better to volunteer,” Eve says. “Helping others helps me to have a better view of the world.” In fact, Eve credits volunteering with helping her adjust to new cities and countries. “It helped me to find other people in the community who had the same values as me,” she adds. That was truly evident to her last year when her family lived in Germany near a refugee camp. “I became friends with many of the refugees and realized how much we had in common,” she says.
In addition to her volunteer work, Eve has had stellar grades and was named the valedictorian for Robinson’s traditional program. She also lettered in flag football, soccer, basketball and football cheer and was a member of the school’s competitive cheer team.
This fall she’ll be headed to Brown University and has already applied to volunteer with the Veterans Administration hospital there. “I hope to be very involved in college,” she says. “With enough effort you can turn something good into something great.”
