I wrote this essay on my first experience working at a needle exchange for a non profit agency in East Oakland. I really wanted to try to make my essay different and not bullet point out my life. I was however shooting in the dark in a sense because I have never written an essay for entrance into college before. Please let me know what you think.
August of 2010 was the first time that I worked an exchange. I was the newly hired Office Manager for a non-profit agency in East Oakland called HIV Education & Prevention Project of Alameda County (HEPPAC). HEPPAC reduces the rate of HIV infection in Oakland primarily through their needle exchanges also known as their Syringe Exchange Program (SEP). We would be working with a highly multi-cultural and low socio-economic group of people with a focus in East Oakland. The primary group of people the agency targets would be African American and Latino with a high risk factor for the contraction of HIV through either intravenous drug use or sex work. HEPPACs approach is harm reduction based. I was told from the very beginning, "We are not here to judge, just to teach people how to make their risky behaviors less risky."
I have had a great deal of experience with addicts. My mother has struggled with addiction since I was a young girl and my father has succombed to it, removing himself as a father figure. The lifestyle I was brought up in provided me with ample time around people that were addicted to drugs and I told myself that I was more than qualified to handle a needle exchange.
Within the first few days at the agency my supervisor approached me and asked if I would be comfortable visiting the Thursday evening exchange so that I could have some first hand knowledge about what our agency was doing in the community. I was a little nervous, still being very green within the organization, but also very excited because since I had interviewed I knew that if I were hired I wanted to volunteer hours with the RN in the mobile clinic. I knew this would be a perfect way for me to get my foot in the door. I told her I would have no problem attending the Thursday evening exchange and would visit that week.
As I left my home that evening I felt an anxiousness to see what I was going to be a part of and a sense of pride in the fact that I was going to do something not many people want or have the courage to do. As I drove deeper and deeper into East Oakland the excited angst I had left home with began to turn into apprehension, fear of the unknown and even a bit of self doubt. What was I getting myself into? For once I began to look at my race as a fault. A 30-something caucasian woman who may have experienced addiction but never to the extent that these people have.
Still, I carried forward. I might have been scared but I was once told by a very wise woman that you "need to feel the fear and do it anyway". So onward I went. Driven by the desire to be part of something different and cutting edge, I was able to hide my fears away. As I pulled up and saw the big HEPPAC RV and my crew of awesome co workers standing out there I felt a sense of immense pride for the new group of people that I got to call my crew.
I walked up feeling a little apprehensive; as though I had something to prove (not only to the crew but to myself as well). The setup was something that I had never seen before and not what I had envisioned at all. A few pop up tables, crates filled with all sorts of supplies ranging from everything a person would need to shoot heroin, crack kits, condoms, sex packs, vitamin packs, wound kits, hygiene kits, and of course clean needles. My coworker Willie began to explain how the line is set up. The person at the front takes all the statistical information from each person, then watches that person dump his dirty rigs. For 1 dirty you get 10 clean, 11 dirty you get 20 clean and so on. A person has to have a dirty to get any clean. After the initial needle exchange the person moves down the line getting whatever supplies they might need. At the end of the line is a huge hot pot of soup, coffee and whatever snacks HEPPAC might have picked up from the Food Bank. The mobile RV is there primarily for people with wounds from shooting dope.
On this day I was just an observer; there to watch. I looked on as a group of amazingly tolerant people did something that not many people I know could do. Each of my co workers had their own story as to why they were able to be so tolerant and being part of the exchange was a great way to hear all of their stories. Some were like me and had parents that struggled, some were volunteers going through EMT programs, others were HIV positive themselves and still others just wanted to be part of something bigger than us all.
I realized quickly that my experience with addicts did not prepare me for this work. These people were mostly homeless, living on the streets of Oakland and serious heroin addicts. The only thing that prepared me for this was the heart I have to get out there and help people that are less fortunate than myself. I was right, getting out there that day did in fact allow me a foot in the door. I went on to volunteer 90 hours with the RN in the mobile RV and even ran a week's worth of exchanges myself while all my co workers were in Washington DC at the International Aids Conference.
As the agency expanded my position began to shift from something that was originally part-time to the need for something full-time. Being a mother and a full-time student I had to decline the offer of a full-time position and move on to different things. It was very sad for me to say goodbye however; I will never forget the greatness I felt inside at being a part of something so sincere. I made a promise to my supervisor that after I have my RN license, I would come back and volunteer when I can to serve my community and to help those out there who really need it.
I feel that the University of San Francisco mission falls directly in line with my personal mission. I have worked hard and have been able to maintain academic integrity while still always seeking the Magis. I have used all my educational experience gained thus far to not only become book smart, but have developed each lesson into a part of my character; consistently looking for the hidden lesson that I could apply within to make myself a more socially conscious individual.
Colleges want to hear why you chose them as well as personal information. While the essay wasn't a literary masterpiece about the time you ate oysters, as some example essays are. It reflects your passion for helping others, your history, how an experience changed you, it showed some flaws but also how you learned from them. So all in all good but the paragraph at the end came out of nowhere so peppered in with your story should be aspects of USF and how it fits with your aspirations.
