As Christian Gilmore, one of our seniors here at Manchester High School, looks to his future, he also reflects upon his past, and how he wants to use it to make a difference for himself and those around him.
When Christian joined the class Teachers for Tomorrow this year, he learned that the program could be going away. “Miss Karlson kind of asked me to look at some connections, see if I could figure something out because I’m also Manchester Senior Representative on the Superintendence Advisory Committee on Education, so I told her I’d be happy to do it.” He then met with the Superintendent, Director of High School Activities and the CTE Coordinator for Chesterfield County. He learned that the class could still exist, but with a new framework.
The name was being changed to Service Learning, and was giving the students a whole new requirement, being the outside service project component, which the county dictated that it be led by the students. “This led to the creating of the posters for the hundredth anniversary dinner that we had at the school. Dr. Murray, the superintendent, amongst others, attended that event. I attended that event. at that event I was asked to become the leader of the student-led project, and so I took it on,” said Christian.
They then created a committee, leading to the brainstorm of how they could get all of their 118 students their hours to earn the work based learning credit. “My first real engagement came with the biggest turkey. When we had a service learning turkey, we began to get people hours,” he says. Even though the program had been saved, they made some budget cuts. “They cut the program in half, which I don’t love, but at least it still exists,” says Christian. This course is what made him realize his dedication to giving kids the love and opportunity they deserve.
Christian wants to use his determination to make a chance for everyone he can. He plans to go to the University of Virginia with a full ride Posse Scholarship, double majoring in Political Science and Elementary Education, which ties back to his experience in Service Learning. He also wants to pursue a career in office. “I’m huge into politics. I would like to run for office. I would like to be president one day. I’m not shy about that. And I do believe that having that political science education will give me the tools I need to, you know, go forward and make some changes in the world.”