By Jaleah Hamilton

High School Student and 2024-25 Xplorlabs Youth Fellow

Glendale, Arizona

Throughout my entire life, I have been trying to figure out what I wanted to do to help the world. I have jumped from lawyer to teacher, and everything in between. No matter what the career was, I knew that I wanted to help people in some capacity.

As a high school senior, it’s been heavily emphasized over the last three years that I need to find a career before going to college, so I decided to major in psychology to better understand and help people, until I stumbled upon a way to benefit others with an immediate impact.

The beginning of my fellowship journey

As a senior at Glenview College Preparatory High School, I became a tutor to fulfill my community service hours with National Honors Society. When I started tutoring, the class was learning about the risks of lithium-ion batteries. Knowing so much about such a common item in my life made me look forward to tutoring, not only for the kids, but also for myself. One day, I started to wonder how common battery-related house fires really were. I was shocked to find that the answer was a lot higher than I thought.

During this time, the teacher I tutored for — Ms. Janet Ankrum, who is also an Xplorlabs Educator Fellow — told me there had been an exceptionally high number of fires in our area alone. This fact really put things into perspective for me because things become a lot more real when they are so close. This was when I realized there actually was something that I could do about it.

Joining the fellowship

Early into the first semester of my senior year, my counselor introduced me to a scholarship called the Build a Better Future Scholarship, which centers on creating a better future for your community. This was my way to help. The next week, I went to Ms. Ankrum and asked her if I could use the things that we were learning in her class for this scholarship opportunity. She agreed with so much enthusiasm, and it made me feel very seen. From then on, I fully immersed myself into this idea of making a difference in this world and it excited me more than I ever would have thought. I started by speaking to the local fire station to see if they could help teach the students I was tutoring about fire safety protocols.

While at the fire station, the firemen gave us a tour and even showed us how they perform their rescues. This solidified everything for me. It all started to feel real at this moment and showed me that I was making real progress toward my goal to help people. After our meeting at the station, Ms. Ankrum and I immediately scheduled a meeting for the firefighters to speak to the students.

The more excited I got, the more excited Ms. Ankrum got too, and pretty soon she was asking me to join her and two of the girls in her class for a meeting with the Xplorlabs Educator Fellows.

This meeting was so important to me because it gave me a glimpse into the real impact that was happening in front of me. These educators from all across the country allowed me to voice my opinions so openly and everyone there made me feel so welcome. Meeting with the Xplorlabs Educator Fellows turned out to be one of the most positive experiences I have ever had.

My work so far

This incredible experience with the Xplorlabs Educator Fellows got the ball rolling for me. Ms. Ankrum told me they were doing a battery drive to not only spread awareness of the dangers of lithium-ion batteries, but also to try and help remove that danger from the homes of students. With the help of our school principal, I was able to distribute a flyer that detailed the dangers of batteries, and share information about collection buckets in every classroom for students to turn their batteries in to be properly recycled.

This entire experience has shown me that change starts with me, and I plan to change a lot more in this world.

Find a problem in your community and think of a solution. Solutions start small and grow from there, so do not be afraid that you are not doing enough. Any step toward change is a step toward a better future.