“I’ve learned that it’s important to give back to the community as part of being a good citizen,” says Lucy Claire Galloway, a graduated senior from Academy of Sacred Heart. “Everyone has the responsibility to help each other and to help the community.”
While in high school Galloway started a club at Sacred Heart called Hearts in Homes, where students visited assisting living homes and interviewed the residents. The students would record the interviews and give those recordings to their family members to keep as an oral history.
Galloway says, “Sacred Heart has taught me from a young age about the importance of giving to others. It is important to remember because we can get caught up in our own lives and forget about those who need help.”
One of Galloway’s rewarding volunteer experiences while in high school was traveling with Amigos for Christ to Nicaragua to build a school with her classmates. While they were there, the volunteers worked on the school, visited with the families and played with the children after working.
“We should always try to help those in need when we can. Any act of service, big or small, can make a difference in someone’s life,” says Galloway.
While in New Orleans, Galloway volunteers with the Miracle League. Here, she has the opportunity to play baseball with disabled children on Saturdays. Each volunteer has a buddy throughout the season and the pair becomes close friends.
Kitty Mattesky, Galloway’s sixth grade English teacher, inspired her to become an activist. After the sixth grade, Galloway traveled to Sacred Heart School in Connecticut to help feed the homeless in the Bronx for a week.
“Even though I was only 12, I remember Mrs. Mattesky talking about the importance of these summer trips and feeling inspired to go and help,” says Galloway.
Galloway is currently a freshman at the University of Texas at Austin and is majoring in Computer Science. She hopes to one day use technology to better people’s lives. She is interested in assistive technology for the disabled.
