Page 8 - Tennessee Teen Volunteer Judge's Book 2022

What can you do during your Tenure of Service to impact your community?
The best thing I can do to impact my community is to be a positive role model for everyone in my community. I want to lead and inspire others but do so by example! I want the youth in the community to look up to me and learn about service from me, and the parents in the community to feel comfortable that their children look up to me. I will continue my work with my platform, with the Ronald McDonald House, and the various other organizations that I have been involved with to date. I will continue to be approachable, inclusive, lead by example, and have a Servant’s Heart.
What has been your involvement with your platform, including time commitment, strategic planning, and ways your ingenuity and resourcefulness have been demonstrated?
Because my platform was born out of passion, my involvement is just part of my daily life. I put work into my platform every day. One of my mom’s favorite things to say is “know your resources” because no one gets where they are all by themselves. Because I love the Arts and am involved with some aspect of the Arts daily, my resources are vast. For example, I am part of an advanced competition dance team, so when I decided to launch “Taylor’s Costume Closet” I knew I had friends with beautiful costumes laying around that didn’t fit them anymore. My friends donate their costumes to the closet when the season is over, and we have many beautiful costumes that we can get to the kids in the community that wouldn’t otherwise be able to afford them. At the dance studio where I teach, there are 200+ students that must get new dance shoes every few months because they’re growing so fast, but the shoes they’ve been wearing are only a couple of months old. I take these as donations and the kids that are on scholarship at the studio (because they can’t afford tuition) now have access to dance shoes for their various classes. I’ve spent many hours planning and pulling together variety shows to fund this scholarship program. I am proud to say that many children (toddlers through teens) have been able to be involved with dance because of my work, and all the people that have helped me get it done!
What inspired you to first become involved with your platform?
For my fifth birthday, my mom took me to see a professional production of The Beauty and the Beast. I fell in love with live theatre. As I got older, and more involved with the Arts, I realized that not everyone is able to experience the Arts like I do. I just couldn’t stand that all this beauty exists in the world and some people will never see it. The Art of Confidence was born! It’s my mission to make sure everyone who wants to experience the Arts can do so.
If you are selected as the winner, how would you mobilize and market your platform nationally?
I would utilize social media to reach a wide audience. I would also involve friends, corporate partnerships (either existing or I would work to create new ones), and personal appearances to create connections within local, state-wide, and even national communities.
How would you utilize social media in order to positively further your position as a titleholder if you are selected as the winner?
I would launch profiles for both my title and my platform. I would be sure to post daily, using hashtags that would create the most amount of traffic to my pages. I would use content that is relevant and entertaining, to ensure that this organization is getting the attention it deserves. Because I’ve been taught