Volunteerism a life choice for SR junior
SLIPPERY ROCK — Sarah Cessar remembers when she was little, sitting in Sunday School and listening to her high-school-aged teachers.
Sarah, 17, took it all in and made a decision early in her life that she wanted to be the one standing at the front of the class.
“I wanted to give back,” said Sarah, a junior at Slippery Rock High School. “When I was in Sunday School, I had a lot of teachers who were high schoolers, and I really enjoyed that.”
Now Sarah teaches every Sunday at St. Peter Roman Catholic Church in Slippery Rock.
Sarah, who is a member of the basketball and soccer teams at the high school, said there is never a dull moment while teaching young children.
And that’s what she loves about it.
“I really like working with kids,” Cessar said. “It’s a lot of fun to be around them. Almost every day, they will say something funny and unexpected.”
Cessar is no stranger to being around younger children. She has three younger siblings: two sisters and a brother.
Her sister, Anna, 15, is a freshman and is a member of the Rockets’ girls basketball team. She also has a younger brother, Mark, 11, and another sister, Barbie, 8.
Anna often helps her eldest sister with her volunteer work.
“Our family does a lot,” Sarah Cessar said.
The eldest Cessar doesn’t just stop at Sunday School.
Active in sports, Sarah can be found helping her sisters’ youth soccer teams or serving as a referee during youth basketball games.
Cessar said she typically spends four hours a week doing volunteer work.
The Slippery Rock High girls basketball team also spends time in the community.
“Every summer, the little kids have basketball camp and we volunteer to help them,” Sarah said.
She also is active in school. She has a part in the school musical “Camelot,” is a member of the Chamber Singers and plays the saxophone in the jazz band.
But volunteer work has a special place in her life.
“It just makes me feel good to be able to help other kids,” Cessar said.
Sarah is the daughter of Paul and Melissa Cessar.
