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In my community I feel there are several things that are important to me. I value the small town lifestyle it provides, and the community camaraderie we sometimes feel when defending our town against neighboring communities similar to ours. I also value several places in this community. I feel the school district itself has made a major impact in my life. The school is after all where I received my education and made many, many school-aged memories. Also, after graduation, I coached for the district for 6 seasons, and was employed by the district for 2 years as a teachers aid. The school itself means a lot to me for the sole reason of being the location of so many important memories.
I also value Kiwanis park. This park meant a lot to me over the years. When I was younger I learned to play ball here as a t-ball player. I again played on the park softball and baseball fields in minor league, and girls 9-12 softball. I attended many birthday parties, scouting camp outs, picnics, and later graduation parties at this park. I swung on the swing sets from the years when I was first learning to play, until I graduated high school. I swam in the creek with friends, families, and team members. The park today still provides me with much happiness, and I feel that it should be more important to my community than it seems to be today.
The community has shaped who I am from the day I was born until now. The small town atmosphere significantly developed my social skills, understanding, and realization of many life skills. The wooded areas provided me with many escapes into nature which I feel pushed me towards the love for the outdoors I now have. I have always used my community for exploration. I was always out wandering through town, parks, around the school, friends properties and more, exploring. Most days my friends and I found entertainment by just leaving the house and walking through different areas of my community. Today I still enjoy exploring, it just is usually done alone as many of my friends hove moves to different communities.
I feel I have contributed to my community by being so involved in school, sports, clubs, and activities. My coaching experiences further show my community contributions. My work with the school district also helped my name become a positive one within the community. I still have strong ties to my Alma mater, and hope to further contribute to my community in the future. However, even the school district itself has shown me change in the years since I have departed it, and I do not like what I see.
Anyone who does not recognize change in my community is a fool. The students who used to show respect for the community and use it for more positive things now are found loitering around town littering, fighting, and etc. It seems to me the community is getting more and more close minded as I get older. In the time I have been living there we have remolded the schools, built an entirely new athletic facility, lost many shops, gained a dollar general and beer distributor, and etc. For the most part, with the exception of the school complex, the community looks mostly the same as when I was growing up in it. I feel the main problems that exist are the communities resistance to change. There is so much that could be done for the better in the area that just is not being done. I have already mentioned how I would like to see the town return to a thriving community. I am concerned that the town will slowly continue to fade out and will no longer be viewed as a safe, beautiful, place to live and raise a family. In the world we live in today, are these not fears of most communities? Can we adapt for the better before it is too late? That I fear we may learn the hard way.
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