On the day that my view of people changed, my mom came up to me and told me that they were looking for more volunteers for a special needs Sunday school class at my church. Because she is a special needs teacher, she knows the teenage girl who goes there and thought it would be a good experience for me to go and help out. She figured it would be better for the special needs girl, Ellie, to be with someone close to her age instead of adults all the time. My mom also mentioned that we weren’t going to be teaching about God. This was just a way to look after special needs kids while their parents went to the church service. With the thought in mind of having to wake up early, I reluctantly agreed to go the following Sunday. Little did I know that volunteering here would change my whole outlook on life.

Finally, Sunday rolled around. As I walked upstairs to the third floor, my heart thumped. I was nervous. Would Ellie like me? Would she want to do things with me or just sit on the couch like she had previously done when there were just adults there? The moment I walked into that room, I knew everything was going to be okay. I felt Ellie’s warm presence, even from across the room. I was greeted with a hug so big that it could squeeze the nerves out of anyone. Ellie is so adorable. She is fairly tall and has short, dark brown hair. She has a round face with sparkly brown eyes that yearn to see beauty in life. Ellie is also the sweetest, most kind-hearted person I have ever met. She is so curious about the world and just wants to enjoy life.

Now it was time to have fun. I started by asking Ellie what she wanted to do that day. In addition to the teen magazines I had brought, there was an assortment of paper and markers and crafts on a table. The first thing she wanted to do was look at the magazines. Together we flipped through glossy, bright pages about Justin Bieber and celebrity drama, as I realized that although she’s special needs, she is still interested in the same things that every other thirteen-year-old girl is interested in. Next we headed over to the table in the middle of the room. We sat down, and I grabbed her some paper and markers. As we started to draw random pictures of flowers and hearts, I noticed that she wants to experience life in the same way as everyone else. She wants to be creative and express her ideas. She wants to draw pretty pictures that get hung on the fridge when deemed good enough by one’s parents. She just wants to be treated as if she were normal. We spent the rest of the time in the middle of the room on the floor. This was by far my favorite part because Ellie was showing me her cheer routine. Like me, she cheers on a competition team with her special needs friends. This was another thing that we could bond over and another thing that proves how similar we are. As she jumped and danced around, she radiated happiness. Cheer is her favorite thing in the world and even being special needs cannot stop that. I get why she loves cheer: the rush as you’re walking out on stage, the bright lights that blind you from seeing the audience, the pounding in your chest as you lift girls up into the air and flip your body over. After watching her performance, a couple of times, it eventually became time to leave. Her mom came to pick her up, and with another tight hug we said goodbye. However, I was not too sad because I knew in one week I would see her again.

Although she is just thirteen years old, Ellie is an amazing person and has made me realize so many new things in life. I now understand that everyone in this world has more in common than they have differences. Although Ellie is special needs, we still like many of the same things. Because everyone is similar, we should treat all people well no matter their skin color, sexuality, size, nationality, etc. Ellie has also made me realize how lucky I am. I have a loving family, good friends, a good education, and I am healthy. I should be thankful every day for those things and many more. I am also grateful that Ellie has come into my life to teach me these amazing things.