Senior Madisyn Bucl describes herself as a quiet person who keeps to herself, but she also loves to give and serve those in need.
Bucl serves her community as a volunteer for the Kansas Humane Society and works as a gymnastics coach at the Northwest YMCA. She is also part of the Big Brothers Big Sisters program.
The biology major with a pre-med concentration is also an ASC Service Award scholar at Newman University. The ASC Service scholarship is named after the university’s founders, the Adorers of the Blood of Christ, and requires that students complete 45 hours of community service per semester.
“My freshman year in the ASC class is what really got me familiar with the Big Brothers Big Sisters program,” Bucl said. “So if it wasn’t for that, I don’t know if I ever would have become a big for the program, which has had a big impact on my life.”
Creating her capstone
As part of their final year in the ASC Service Award program, Newman seniors organize capstone service projects that tie in what they’ve learned as servant leaders.
Bucl knew that she wanted to work with kids, so identifying a Wichita nonprofit to work with was not a hard decision.
She reached out to a representative of the Wichita Children’s Home who then introduced her to the Kidzcope program. According to the Wichita Children’s Home website, Kidzcope provides grieving children and families with community and peer support, “ensuring no child ever has to grieve alone.”
“Hearing about what the program does to help kids who have lost loved ones just seemed a little special to me since I’ve lost some significant people in my life,” Bucl said. “I know that it can be a hard time, so I just wanted to give back to the kids in any way that I could.”
In December 2021, Bucl created “blessing bags” for the children who benefit from Kidzcope. Each blessing bag consisted of toys, coloring items and even items like homemade stress balls, which her friends helped make.
“I wanted to give the kids items that can help them in the hard times. So I ended up putting out a wishlist on Amazon to help get donations. I then put all the donations in drawstring bags, and gave them the bags on the last night of the nine-week program,” Bucl said.
In all, she raised $1,156 in donations and made 40 blessing bags, which she gave directly to the children. Bucl gave all leftover donations to Kidzcope.
Pursuing a career of giving back
After graduation, Bucl plans to attend medical school as it has been a passion of hers since she suffered injuries as a gymnast in middle school and was inspired by her sports doctor.
Bucl said she is grateful for her time at Newman as it has opened doors for new ideas.
“I’ve really enjoyed being at Newman and being on the ASC scholarship. I’ve really learned how to be a better leader and all the different ways that I can be a leader out in the community,” Bucl said.
Generous support through scholarships gives students like Bucl the opportunity to develop leadership skills and make a true difference in the lives of our community. To support students like Bucl, please visit give.newmanu.edu. Your contributions to the fund of your choice will greatly strengthen the quality of education for our students and allow us to continue our mission to empower students to transform society.
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