A Night to Remember by McKennah

A Night to Remember by McKennah - March 2026 Scholarship Essay

This year, I volunteered as a dance partner at the Tim Tebow Foundation's Night To Shine 2026 event. The responsibility entailed that I participate in activities throughout the night with a member of the special needs community who was assigned to me. During the training, our mentors made sure we were to treat our partners with respect and care as we would any other person and not to go in with the mindset that we were doing our partner a service; but rather, that we were also there to have a good time. I had worked with people with disabilities many times, as I have a passion for it, so the training was nothing new to me, but this time was different.
As the night drew near, I became eager to meet my partner. The organizers of the event provided us with some foreknowledge of our partner, so I had special interests of hers on standby if I needed any talking points. Perhaps my partner could even be nonverbal, I thought. When I met her, she was older than I'd expected, 26, but she seemed and looked like any other high schooler. For privacy's sake, let's say her name was Avery. Avery was a cheerleader, I found out she liked bedazzling her things with rhinestones, and she mostly just hung out at home with her mom. She was actually seemingly neurotypical, just incredibly reserved. It wasn't long before I realized I couldn't read her. I pried and pried. It's not that she was shy, but she simply didn't have much to say. I didn't know how to handle myself or make her time enjoyable because she was so unmoved. However, she had friends there, and she seemed very happy around them and not quite disinterested in me, but maybe impartial about my presence.
My experience at Night To Shine opened my eyes to how much I rely on feedback from others in order to serve them and thus gauge how effectively I'm doing so, which held me back from simply being in the moment with Avery and enjoying our time together. I thought treating people like a project was beyond me, but I realized that very mindset was lying beneath my desire for approval from others. Heart posture is everything, and I've learned that it can make or break helping someone else out, including yourself.