Making It Matter: Sarah Suh '14
Suh has volunteered more than 800 hours with Campus Kitchens, collecting leftover food from student dining halls and local restaurants and repackaging it for Evanston residents in need. In April, she was awarded the $10,000 Stephen J. Brady STOP Hunger Scholarship from Sodexo, Inc.
I have formed a lot of personal relationships with our clients, and they've taught me so much -- especially the senior citizens. They have a ton of wisdom they want to share. We have one client, for example, who went to Stanford University, served in the Navy and eventually became a priest. Now he's single and retired and he gets our meals. Every time we go to his house he asks us, "What are your dreams? What do you want to do in the future?"
He gets us thinking about what we want in our lives and what our intentions are. He's taught me that in the end, if you're doing what you love to do -- if you're in love with your work and with what you are learning -- then you should be blissful. Whatever you do, you should strive to make a positive difference in other people's lives. What you do inevitably affects others, so always make it a good thing. That was really powerful.
As students, we're always thinking about the future -- about midterms and finals coming up, or internships and jobs that we need to apply for. I started to wonder, what am I going to do when I finally get to that future? My ultimate goal is to be a physician, but when I get there, will it be scary to realize that I've achieved that? Because now what can I look forward to? A lot of people don't ask these questions until they've gotten what they wanted. I'm trying to consider these questions now, so that I can appreciate what I do in the present and make my life's journey meaningful.