Wesley Sudarshan
Leadership Mantra "Change yourself – you are in control." - Mahatma Gandhi
Miree Leadership Project
I became involved with the national organization Break the Outbreak, a student led organization originally devoted to donating masks during the pandemic. I started the Birmingham chapter of Break the Outbreak and assembled a team of Altamont students. Recently, I was selected to be the Assistant Chairman of the Break the Outbreak Hygiene Committee. Our mission is to raise money to purchase PPE and hygiene products to donate to local homeless shelters.
How does your project meet the needs of the community?
During the Covid-19 pandemic, everyone was hit hard, but homeless shelters were uniquely affected. Funding and donations dried and new needs like masks surfaced. My project helps to address this problem and alleviate the pressure homeless shelters in Birmingham are feeling during these troubling times.
Caroline Prince
Leadership Mantra Leadership is deciding that you want to do everything you can to make the world a better place, and in doing so, inspire others to do the same thing.
Miree Leadership Project
My Miree Project started as a dream to help children who are battling cancer and their families. One of my friends from Camp was diagnosed with cancer at a young age and I wanted to help people like her. My initial thought was to create partnerships and volunteer with the Ronald McDonald House Charities and Meals-On-Wheels, but halfway into my freshman year Covid-19 threw a curveball at my plans. The places that I wanted to partner with were no longer accepting volunteers or donations and I did not know what to do.
Then, after personal experience donating blood I learned the importance of blood transfusions in cancer treatment. I decided that this would be a way to connect my project to cancer related service, and that I could definitely host blood drives at the school. We hosted one blood drive in May of 2021, and another in February and May of 2022, which more than doubled our participants from the first drive. We have more drives scheduled but I also plan to incorporate donor education and why people should donate blood into my areas of leadership. I hope that the blood drives at Altamont continue long past my time here, and that the education on why to donate stays with at least some people and inspires them to make a difference on their own as well.
How does your project meet the needs of the community?
The Birmingham area, and really the whole country in general, has been in a blood shortage due to the Covid-19 Pandemic because more people need blood transfusions now, and there are less people who are willing to donate. My project provides blood for LifeSouth, one of our community partners, to give to hospitals in our area. It provides lifesaving treatments for Covid-19, Cancer, and many other diseases and injuries.
