I would first like to thank Mrs. Lefevre-Levy for inviting me to speak tonight. If you don’t know me, I’m Sam Bacon, a senior at the high school. I’m going to open with a short story before I get into the boring and cheesy part of my speech.

A number of years ago a parent and I were kind of leisurely talking about extracurriculars, and I made the mistake of talking about the volunteer work I do. She immediately responded with, “Wow, you’re going to be able to milk that so well for college!” As most teens in the room can attest, there’s nothing we enjoy more than talking about college with every adult who we know and barely know. I was immediately taken aback by how quickly she had turned my volunteering into college currency. Nonetheless, I continued to proceed through the routine college talk until the parent seemed satisfied enough to leave. As Wayland High School students, we all know what it’s like to grow up in a town where college is the ultimate destination, and for me I hated to think of my volunteer work as just another thing getting me into a university.

A little background on my volunteer work: I’ve spent a lot of time volunteering in a number of different areas. The most significant time I’ve spent, however, belongs with my Special Olympics basketball team, where in the past I have both played as a unified partner and coached. Winter Sundays in the Bacon household have typically been special Olympic days, and between my mother filing paper work and managing the team, and my sister who leads the Special Olympics cheer squad, we’ve been able to build a fairly reputable team that competes at a high level. I’ve known most of the kids for a number of years, and some I’ve known all of my Wayland life. The families of the team live to cheer their sons and daughters on as they play, and this year we even compelled an athlete’s brother to be our mascot.

The thing that never fails to impress me is the growth of the athletes. I’ve seen kids, who could barely dribble one year, make lay-ups three years later, and kids afraid to ball with other teammates become strong team players. To me it was never volunteering, it was just the thing we did on Sundays. I’ve always loved going to the practices, coaching the games, and laughing later about the crazy stuff we did with the athletes.

I feel now, after all these years of coaching, that coaching a Special Olympics basketball team is something I do well, and that I enjoy. If there hadn’t been a Special Olympics team for me to begin with, my life would be a little bit more boring than it already is, and I would not have been able to give back to the community nearly as much as I have, and it’s has given so much to me. So my advice to parents and kids alike is don’t volunteer in the hopes of using it as a stepping stone for something else. I’ve seen too many kids from Acton Boxborough and Concord Carlisle trying to get rid of their volunteering requirements as fast as they possibly can. That kind of situation makes volunteering mindless and most likely ineffective. Find a way to give back to the community in ways that you and the people around you can have fun, so it doesn’t feel like volunteering; rather it’s just another part of your life.

Volunteering has given me a strong sense of self-identity, not to mention a reason to have pride in my work. I’ll be leaving Wayland with great memories of half court shots, laughter, tears and triumph, and I only hope that most people can one day have the memories I have.