In her 9th grade year, Tara immediately distinguished herself as someone who took to heart the concept of serving others. While many other freshman were trying to decide upon their volunteer projects, Tara jumped right into the deep end and signed up for a week long service trip to Romania with the charity program Romanian Children’s Relief. There, she spent her February break working in a hospital, befriending Roma children in an after-school program, and serving both children and adults with disabilities.
Reflecting in an essay on her first experience in Romania, Tara wrote, “The trip taught me many things about myself. It taught me not to be afraid, to just put myself out there to talk to kids who need attention, even if we don’t speak the same language. It really opened my eyes to other people’s lives.”
Instead of resting on her laurels after her stellar work in Romania, Tara volunteered as a Teacher’s Aide in a fourth grade classroom back on the TASIS England campus.
In the tenth grade, Tara continued her commitment to the children of Romania, returning during her February Break to offer care, compassion, and friendship to children in need.
Back in England, she challenged herself further by volunteering every Saturday morning at the Age UK charity shop in Weybridge. Tara pushed the boundaries of her comfort zone, learning how to work in a shop, serve customers, and fundraise for important causes. On campus, Tara frequently organized bake sales to raise money for charities close to her heart. She has participated in four charity walks for various causes, mainly cancer, and volunteered for two others.
In 2014, Tara won the coveted Diana Princess of Wales Volunteer Award.
In the summer between her junior and senior year, Tara traveled to Tanzania where she volunteered at the Morogoro Regional Hospital for a week, and then spent a further week at the Sokoine Institute in general medicine. Her time was spent shadowing three doctors in a labor ward helping to deliver babies, and she was lucky enough to witness a C-section. At the Institute, she worked with special cases and also general care.
In her time at TASIS England, she founded the Fight Cancer Club with fellow classmate, Taylor Smith ‘15. The aim of the club is to create awareness of the effect cancer has on families, creating a support group of sorts, and also to fundraise for charities involved in cancer research and diagnosis, as well as those that assist people living with, and families affected by, cancer. The club turned out to be an incredible accomplishment, raising over £10,000 through bake sales, candy grams, and collecting donations from family and friends.
She also volunteered at King’s College London for almost a year, where she worked in the renal ward keeping patients company and helping the nurses with various tasks such as bandaging, dialysis, and feeding patients.
Tara’s commitment to serving others is exemplary, and her good work continues to have positive effects for people throughout the world.
This autumn she is studying pre-med and hoping to major in Biological Sciences at Wellesley College.
This article first appeared in the TASIS England Alumni eNews, Autumn 2015 issue.