“The community you give to is the same community that will remember your name or your face should you ever need anything,” says Zachary Tyler Pomet, a senior at Brother Martin High school.
At school, Pomet is a part of the Best Buddies program, where students from Brother Martin are paired with students from St. Michael Special School. The program was started to help form a friendship between the two groups of students. “I felt a calling to join this organization because I get a lot out of just making others happy, and in return I feel good knowing I made someone else’s day just a little bit better,” says Pomet.
Junior year, Pomet committed to the Junior Christian Service Project, which required 60 hours of service junior year. He was initially nervous about committing to so many hours but decided to complete his hours at The River Region Hospice in River Ridge. “Working at the hospice has completely changed my view in life and how precious time really is,” he says, “I cannot count how many times family members of a patient came up to me just to thank me and to tell me how much they appreciated the time I volunteered.”
Pomet has given back to his community by volunteering with the Victory Fellowship Church. Every other month, the church provides meals to the homeless. The meals are provided by volunteers and many of the homeless are bussed in from local shelters. Each month, the homeless are grateful for the hot meal. “I always find this monthly event very rewarding, because the little things like a good meal that I might take for granted can make a world of a difference in someone else’s day, and if I see that my actions have made just one other person happy, then their smile is all I need to see in return,” he says.
Coach Dave McCuller, Pomet’s elementary school Cross Country coach and youth group leader, inspired Pomet to become involved with his community. At St. Matthew the Apostle church, Coach McCuller introduced Pomet to volunteering in the fifth grade and taught him to put the needs of others before his own needs. “Putting others’ needs before your own will always payoff in the end in any situation,” says Pomet. “I do not have to see it right then and there, but I believe in what goes around comes around and that it is true in how you live and treat others.”
Pomet enjoys hanging out with his friends and would rather spend his free time outside more than anything. He hopes to attend Louisiana State University to take courses in engineering and architecture. He says he’ll always be involved in his community, and once he’s at college he’ll be certain that he will serve the needs of others.
