FCDS Sophomore’s Passion for Service Leads to Positive Change
Sarina Horner, who’ll turn 16 in May, recently won the Governor’s Volunteer Service Award for Forsyth County in the youth category. The award recognizes a commitment to helping others that started when Sarina was in fifth grade.
She attended a public elementary school before transferring to FCDS that year, and she saw a lot of students benefit from the Forsyth Backpack Program, which her sister (Yasmin Horner ’19) was involved with. “I was raised with the notion that you always need to help others,” she said. “Nothing bad can come from helping other people. You’re helping them and fulfilling yourself when you’re doing that.”
Sarina’s award recognized her work with Yasmin with the FCDS Forsyth Backpack Program Club, of which Sarina is now president, her co-founding of the Forsyth County Young Leaders Program, her creation of a $250 grant program to recognize youth who are dedicated to service called, “If Not You, Who?”, and her work to allow Winston-Salem bus riders to carry more than two bags when riding.
Sarina started working on the bus project last summer. “I heard [Councilwoman] D.D. Adams speak about it and I heard other adults mention the two-bag limit, so I started doing my own research,” she said.
If you don’t ride the bus, you might not know what Sarina discovered: that riders can only carry two bags total when riding. “Basically for families that are struggling and have kids at home, they have to get a babysitter, which is expensive, they might have to take more than one trip or take more people with them,” she said.
If you’ve got a purse, as pretty much every woman grocery shopping does, that counts toward the limit, Sarina said. Further, the transit authority allowed the bus drivers to choose whether to enforce the rule, so a shopper wouldn’t know if he or she might be able to get away with three bags on one route but not when they change buses to finish their trip. “I know for me that would be a really big stress,” Sarina said. “Why put that limitation on people when there are already enough limitations as it is?”
Sarina proposed a 90-day trial waiver of the rule, and to her delight, the Winston-Salem Transit Authority (WSTA) adopted the measure. “They actually waived the rule. That was pretty cool to me,” she said.
She didn’t stop there, though. Sarina proposed waiving bus fares for 90 days during the coronavirus outbreak and sent a letter to the mayor and city council outlining the benefits of her proposal. A recent report in the Winston-Salem Journal indicates that it’s being considered.
“I really like doing service. I do a lot,” Sarina said. “I keep my grades up, but if I’m not at school, I’m doing some sort of service.”
Sarina said that her drive to serve is rooted in her family. “I think my grandparents are pretty cool. They’re a really big part of why I do service. My grandfather always says, ‘If not you, who? If you don’t do it, who’s going to do it’?”
With the transit authority project mostly complete, Sarina is in search of her next way to serve. “I think I’m just going to keep on finding a way to help the community as much as I can.”
Forsyth Country Day School (FCDS) is a private, college preparatory, independent school for preschool through high school located in Lewisville, NC, just outside of Winston-Salem. Students benefit from a challenging academic curriculum, fine and performing arts, competitive athletics, and a wide selection of extracurricular activities.
Non-Discrimination Policy: Forsyth Country Day School is committed to administering all education and employment activities without discrimination based on one’s race, color, religion, national or ethnic origin, age, ability, gender identity, or sexual orientation.
Non-Discrimination Policy: Forsyth Country Day School is committed to administering all education and employment activities without discrimination based on one’s race, color, religion, national or ethnic origin, age, ability, gender identity, or sexual orientation.
