Graduation should not be viewed in the eyes of seniors as the finish line, but as the beginning of a long and difficult race. While we have all accomplished great feats and worked tirelessly to mold ourselves into knowledgeable and conscientious leaders in society as representatives of Seton Hall Prep, receiving our diplomas is not the limit of our potential. We must apply the skills and values that we have obtained in the classroom and around this community to continue to serve as brothers. As AP tests, finals, spring sports, and other senior-oriented events wind up and the last day of April ominously approaches, however, I think that it is important to reflect upon the significant impact that the senior class has had on our Seton Hall Prep community and others alike beyond West Orange via the Senior Service Project. While I am just one of many seniors, our combined effort to improve the lives of others and the environment in which we all live through sandwich-making, food drives, supporting our troops, environment clean-ups, and a plethora of other significant contributions should not and will not go unnoticed. Although an in-depth exploration into the projects completed by my peers would most accurately represent the widespread accomplishments made by the senior class, I would like to share my own service experiences to provide some perspective on the efforts made by my peers and me this year.

My first service engagement this year was in mid-October on Senior Service Day. Though I had signed up to package meals for Rise Against Hunger to simply acquire some early hours for the twenty-hour requirement, my experiences during the event and further research into the current hunger crisis in New Jersey, the United States, and across the globe prompted me to dedicate my Senior Service project to fighting and spreading awareness about global food insecurity. My efforts to research and educate myself on the crucially important issue of rising food insecurity rates around the world were catalyzed by my newfound awareness of the significant impact that Covid-19 had on such rates. To implement my research and knowledge of this subject into physical service and action, I first created a PowerPoint to organize my ideas. I began with the causes of hunger, then listed the effects of the hunger, and, most importantly, ended my presentation with some easy-to-achieves and some more substantial solutions to food insecurity. While I do not want to present all my findings within this article, I believe that a quick summary of my research will benefit the reader and provide context to my subsequent actions taken to solve this issue.

The issue of hunger can ultimately be solved by providing each hungry person with one meal at a time. If those in positions of economic privilege and kind hearts can make a daily effort to contribute to this goal in any way one can, then the massive issue of hunger becomes a significantly simpler problem to solve. I found that more meals can be generated and delivered to those most in need of them by accomplishing seven goals:

1. Reducing Food Waste
2. Reducing the Commercialization of Food Production and Selling
3. Improving Infrastructure
4. Improving the Political Aspect of Food via Trade Policies
5. Promoting Food Diversity and Healthy Eating Habits
6. Increasing Crop Yield
7. Environmental Sustainability

While some of the goals on the list are not accomplishable by the common person, the most important goals are. As individuals with limited resources, time, and efforts available to help combat food insecurity on a larger scale, reducing food waste, promoting healthy eating habits, and sustaining the environment can each be achieved daily through conscientious food purchases, education on healthy diets, and reducing one’s carbon footprint. If everyone were to make a concerted effort to tackle one of these challenges every day, more frequent and more adequate meals can be provided to children around the world who need them the most.

My commitment to fighting food insecurity has also involved writing letters to government officials urging them to help contribute to the other goals on my list, goals that I as a high-school student need help accomplishing. Although my efforts to fight such a widescale issue may be small, when combined with the efforts made by the entire senior class, our impact becomes much greater.

Full PowerPoint https://1drv.ms/p/s!AiCYTfyN3ItehXUViz0UaoDAscqg?e=Rgd8Vb