Kaela Worrall embodies the very definition of service. She performs acts of benevolence in order to help improve the betterment of the larger community and does so without questions or defiance. She is eager to take on new projects as service is something she values deeply. Kaela has served with Admission Possible, a nonprofit organization dedicated to making college admission and success possible for promising low-incoming students, since August 2010 and has shown tremendous dedication in these last eight months. It is through this unwavering commitment that I nominate Kaela for the 2011 Impact Award.

Kaela served as our Workshop/Volunteer AmeriCorps Member for the first half of her service organizing large events for our students and community. Her biggest project was Make a Difference Day which was a program wide effort to raise over 9,000 pounds of food to donate to a local food shelter. There were many moving parts in making this event successful: recruiting volunteers from the community, building awareness in the school communities and organizing a celebration rally to congratulate students on a job well done. Kaela handled all the fiascos with poise and professionalism and made the event the best we have seen yet.

Kaela is always thinking about others first and what is best for the overall organization. We had an unexpected vacancy in December and were uncertain about where this would put us as an organization. Although this was a bitter sweet circumstance, Kaela showed great interest in filling that vacancy and volunteered to take over as a high school coach to mentor a group of 33 students. There were many challenges that she would face as a new high school coach starting in the middle of the semester. Gaining trust from an individual takes time, but time was something Kaela did not have as she needed to help these students gain admission into college and secure funding for the upcoming school year. Kaela has worked extremely hard in the last four months to achieve her goals and that of the organization, despite not having any formal training for this new position. She understands the importance of her work and seeks opportunities to improve. She is a team player that wants the best for her students and will partake in the mundane tasks to make college admission possible without complaint.

Kaela has gone above and beyond what has been required of her this year. As she transitioned between Workshop/Volunteer and High School Coach there were events in place for the spring semester that she could not just abandon. For a while, she was playing dual roles in an effort to launch college workshops, curriculum to inform underclassmen about college, at all our partner schools. While our members perform many duties throughout the year, Kaela has performed more than the required roles.

Kaela is the ideal model of a service oriented individual. You would not find an individual who is more deserving and it gives me great pleasure to nominate her for the Impact Award.