There are many students here at Monte Vista who have dedicated themselves to helping others, with a goal of uniting their community. These students have portrayed and upheld positive attitudes through every difficult situation and have influenced many other students around them to do good deeds as well.

While we are so fortunate to live in such a nice area, we often get too caught up in our own lives, worrying about frivolous items, and dwelling on situations that are irrelevant. Here at Monte Vista, we have a whole committee part of the Monte Vista leadership class dedicated specifically to community work in our area. Rachel Cohen who has been apart of this “C-Serve” committee has played a large role in helping their events prosper. With events like planning Adopt-A-Family, and drives for the charity One Closet, run by a senior from a local high school, it can be overwhelming, but Rachel and her other committee members have managed to keep everything running smoothly.

“I chose to be in community service because I believe it truly embodies the Monte Vista spirit,” junior Rachel Cohen says. “Helping other and showing the community that we care is extremely important; it extends our duty from merely students to citizens of the world.”

Students who have taken the time to make an impact on others lives, all have done their best to maintain a positive attitude in order to benefit themselves and the others around them.

“I think having a positive attitude is a key aspect to what we do in the community,” junior Rachel Cohen says. “A lot of times what we do do involves fairly large scale operations, we fail a lot. However, we do not give up when we fail. Our duty is to spread good fortune and happiness to the world and that would be impossible if we ourselves did not block out negativity and try and stay positive.”

Hailey Woram one of the fundraising chairman for the charity Assisteens spends her time planning fundraisers that pay for their organizations philanthropic programs which can include teen mentoring, meals for homeless shelters, hygiene kits, backpacks for foster children, visits to senior centers and reading programs. Being a chairman, Woram has faced many obstacles of trying to get things organized and planned correctly, but her positive attitude and excitement for these programs has allowed her to enjoy these different experiences.

“As high school students, there are times where we get overwhelmed with school, sports, and jobs,” junior Hailey Woram says. “We often forget how much of a difference we can make in somebody else’s life. A positive attitude is critical to achieving all my commitments even when I feel like giving up.”

As humans we are faced with adversity, and challenges on a daily basis. However, it is the way we deal with these actions that make us who we are. Some of the most notable leaders or celebrities who we value as idols, all have faced obstacles in which they overcame- without a positive attitude there is no way they could have achieved such phenomenal things. Matthew Mcconaughey, an actor who at the Oscars gave an inspiring and inspirational speech had words that immediately stuck to many… he wakes up every morning asking himself three questions. These questions are: “What do you look up to?, “What do you look forward to?” and “What do you chase?”. His words instantly stuck to people, because often times we get caught up in the motions and daily routines of life, forgetting about all the wonderful things that happen to us daily, which need to be acknowledged. The idea of maintaining a positive attitude and having strong motivation to go out and get what you what is what leads people to find something they’re passionate about, and helping others is just one of the many things a positive attitude can lead to as well.