By Danika Young | LTVN Reporter/Anchor
Flower Mound senior and Medical Ethics Discussion Society president Holli Ott credits her devotion to service to a Halloween costume and a little girl from the Daybreak Care Center.
Before she assumed her leadership position, Ott was not involved in many service activities. However, one day during her sophomore year, the fall festival service project at Daybreak made an imprint on her life.
In the spirit of Halloween, Ott wore a bunny costume with floppy bunny ears, which caught the attention of a little girl.
“I swear I sat there like two hours just letting her play with the bunny ears, or I’d play with the bunny ears and she’d think it’s really funny,” Ott said.
Because of this one encounter, Ott said she devoted herself to service through the Medical Ethics Discussion Society and has never looked back.
“There’s just something about getting to see that joy in people’s lives from the simple, like the littlest things,” Ott said. “You know, there are times that our lives get just really hard. We have so much going on. But then you just have a little funny hat that moves, and sometimes that’s all you need to make someone’s day.”
Ott said she believes in serving those in need through medicine and, most importantly, in discussing why they do what they do.
“We sit there and talk about medical ethics in our discussion meetings,” Ott said. “A lot of the times, we will talk about where doctors or other health care professionals are going and providing their services for free — such as federally qualified health centers or going on mission trips — and talk about the ethics of, when you’re doing things for free, can you shirk your professional standards?”
Lufkin senior and Medical Ethics Discussion Society internal vice president Megan Hudson developed her love for service while tutoring a student at the Waco Youth Center.
“This student was kind of struggling with schoolwork,” Hudson said. “I sat with the student and just tried to knock out their math homework alongside them, trying to encourage them.”
Because of her patience and tutoring experience at the Baylor Success Center, Hudson helped this student earn their first A on a math test.
“They hugged me, and they were so excited,” Hudson said. “They were like, ‘I couldn’t have done it without you. Thank you so much for taking the time to sit with me and explain it to me.’ I think that was super impactful.”
Because of the impact this student had on her, Hudson — like Ott — committed to service through the Medical Ethics Discussion Society.
“I think of the impact that I was able to make with that specific student, and now they are about to graduate high school,” Hudson said. “We have fun moments like that with the students, and you get to laugh and have fun and take a couple of hours out of your week to just be intentional.”
