Forrest Carroll

The first time I really understood what Park Habitat did, and stood for, was in sixth grade when I went to the annual 5K run. It was the second time I had been to the race, but the year before I hadn’t really paid attention to what was going on. At the end of the race, when I was waiting to see if I had won a prize, Julie Rogers started talking about the project. I didn’t know who she was, and I had some trouble understanding everything she talked about, but I understood the general logistics of her speech. When I thought about building ten houses in ten years, and $100,000, I was very impressed. I came into ninth grade and jumped right into Park Habitat. At the beginning of the year, before I became a leader, I learned a lot about the project, and did all sorts of things with the club. When I heard that I could be a leader, I applied right away and sure enough ended up with a responsibility which I had little knowledge of. The first year was hectic, with a lot of things going on whose significance took me a while to figure out, but with so many other senior leaders, I soon got the hang of it. I found myself asking for money from big companies, helping set up all kinds of fundraisers, including the run, and working on getting other schools to start their own projects to help Chesapeake Habitat for Humanity. The people that I am constantly working with are amazing, and being a leader of Park Habitat has given me incredible opportunities to do things in and out of Baltimore, and has taught me invaluable lessons that I hopefully will use for a long time.