It was a plan seven years in the making. Mission trips all over the Americas, building and repairing homes for those in desperate need. Soup kitchens, Habitat for Humanity, and another two years promoting community service among Greek Life as Chi Omega’s Philanthropy Director at CofC... Sounds like the perfect, passionate candidate the Peace Corps would be looking for, right?

I was. Since I was sixteen, all I’d ever wanted was to join the Corps and travel the world.  I was throughly convinced that post-grad was the best and probably only time for me to do it - no obligations, family, assets, etc. to tie me down. I’ve been going to almost every informational meeting on campus since I started here at The College of Charleston in 2011, gaining as much knowledge and prepping myself to apply. “To love is to serve” had always been my lifelong motto.

But when the time came to apply, I couldn’t do it. I held back. I wanted to apply over the holiday break of 2013, but just before that break began, I was reminded that I am not as invincible as I thought I was. I went into diabetic ketoacidosis and was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes. After my week-long stint in the hospital, I was faced with having to alter the way I did everything, and how I had planned out my whole life. 

This past summer, two of my grandparents fell very ill - my grandmother being put on an oxygen tank and my grandfather (from the other side of my family) suffering immense migraines and even breaking a bone in a fall. I went to family reunions and visited them whenever I could, because I was starting to worry any moment might be my last with them.

By the time this last break rolled around, I had convinced myself that not applying to the Corps would still be succumbing to the disease, letting it win and preventing me from accomplishing the one thing I’d always said I’d do. Again, I started an application in December 2014 and I couldn’t finish it. Day after day I opened that webpage but I couldn’t get myself to type. 

It wasn’t that I’d lost my passion - far from it. I still want to join the Corps. But now may not be the best time for me. I lost my grandmother in October, and although my grandfather is doing better, I still want to visit as often as possible and make all the memories I can. My brother is a freshman at USC, experiencing all of the things in college that I did, and I don’t want to be continents away when he needs a helping hand. But the most important thing that I realized was that I can make a difference, right here in my own community.

As Philanthropy Director of my chapter for the past two years, I’ve planned my fair share of fundraisers. But the events with the most impact were those that involved volunteer work: participating in United Way's Day of Caring, visiting nursing homes, building for Habitat for Humanity, and meeting the children of The Make a Wish Foundation whose dreams we’d worked so hard to make come true. These were real people whose real needs were being met right here in our own city - and only a small portion of more people just like them.

There are people that need help all over the world, and one day I hope to spend a few years with the Corps assisting them. But my term as Philanthropy Director for Chi Omega taught me that there are people within miles of my house that are struggling to make ends meet, and it’s not that hard to help them. I think everyone should consider the Corps, and if there’s nothing stopping you, go for it. But don’t ever believe the lie that the only way to change lives is to jet off to a faraway land: you can make a difference in your own back yard.