By Zoe Lenz 

Like any high school student at Tempe Prep, freshman Ellie Han must reach a required amount of volunteer hours. However, her service project sets her apart from the crowd. Last summer, the COVID-19 pandemic made it difficult to find many volunteer activities, but Ellie persevered. 

Through the website VolunteerMatch Ellie discovered an opportunity to help children from Ukraine learn to speak English via Zoom. She said, “Out of many other possibilities I chose this project because I found this one to be the most meaningful and interesting.”

Over the past eight months she worked with an organization called ENGin by Meaningful Teens. Her goal is to help Ukrainian students with their English-speaking skills. She helps the students learn English through games, scavenger hunts and conversations. When she works with an individual student, she says, “We talk about various topics such as school, favorite sports and hobbies, friends and family, etc.” 

Ellie said she learned responsibility and patience. “This project helped me move out of my comfort zone,” she said. Ellie even helped found a new Baking Club at Tempe Prep. “This (experience) led to me trying new things at TPA such as starting a new club, which I didn’t have the guts to do before.”