Volunteer Work: Giovanna Ambroselli not only volunteers as a teacher’s aide at St. Joseph’s School for the Deaf, but she also volunteers at St. Francis Hospital as a nurse assistant. At St. Joseph’s she assists the teacher in controlling and communicating with the children. She helps to provide them with fun activities. At St. Francis Hospital she assists the nurses by discharging patients, bringing them to their cars, and helping with other tasks. She has been volunteering at both facilities for four years.
Personal: Giovanna is an 18-year-old student who has resided in Bayside her whole life. While she now attends St. Mary’s High School, she will be going to Adelphi University in the fall on a scholarship to study nursing anesthesiology.
When she isn’t volunteering, she cheerleads at her school and participates in the National Honors Society. She plans on continuing her volunteer work throughout college and hopes to make a difference in the lives of many as she gets older.
Inspiration: Ambroselli says she was inspired to volunteer by her interest in medicine and helping others. Her mother, a pharmacy technician, also works in a hospital, which Giovanna says has also influenced her interest in volunteering. When she began high school, she was also allured by the many volunteering opportunities at the school and began to really interest herself in bettering the lives of others.
Biggest Challenge: “I would have to say seeing the sick people in the hospital who are alone and don’t have anyone to care for them, it really breaks my heart.” She says it makes her determined to persevere to make the patients feel comfortable and not alone.
Favorite Memory: She says her favorite memory is at St. Joseph’s. “When I would volunteer there, the little kids would run up to me and just seem so happy, even with their hearing impediment.” She says her favorite memories are those days when she gets to really have fun with the kids.
BY PAOLA ANTERI
