“A community catches people when they fall and helps them get back up. This is why everyone must be involved in their community – for the help you may need in the future is the help someone else needs right now,” says Elizabeth Drennan a junior at Louise S. McGehee School.
Drennan is involved in her local and school communities by being a member in New Orleans Independent Schools’ Relay for Life, The New Orleans Heart of Passion team, Girls Learn International, McGehee G.I.V.E club, McGehee 504-EVER club and the McGehee Best Buddies club.
One of Drennan’s most rewarding experiences was “Red Carpet Day,” an event hosted by the Heart of Passion, a local nonprofit. Drennan worked together as a team with 15 other New Orleans high school students to plan a fundraiser for an all-expense-paid summer retreat for teenagers with cancer. “Before the actual camp, I had only worked on behind-the-scenes fundraising for this cause. It was incredible to get hands-on experience and see what we had been talking about all year actually happen,” says Drennan.
Another way that Drennan has been a philanthropist for her community is by raising money for New Orleans Independent Schools’ “Relay for Life” as a team captain. Drennan says, “Through my involvement, I learned about communicating with businesses and possible donors while learning how to stand up for what I believe in, in a way that makes people want to support my cause and my team.”
Elenore Falshaw, McGehee’s Director of Development, inspired Drennan to become a student activist with everything she has taught her students. Falshaw has been there to give support for all of Drennan’s community service. “She has sparked my interest in philanthropy and inspired me that young people have the power to impact their community,” says Drennan. “Mrs. Falshaw has taught me that it’s up to me to stand up and convince the community to listen and support my causes, and she has also taught me so much about how to do so.”
Drennan is a junior in high school and currently unsure where she wants to go to college, but is leaning towards Rhodes College. She hopes to have a career in marketing or philanthropy because she wants to learn more about everything that goes on with community service.