Ocean City High School senior Christopher Garrabrant credits his parents with instilling in him a sense of volunteerism and community service by creating opportunities for participation and fostering a culture of giving back.
The teen, who lives in Margate, has volunteered more than 1,000 hours supporting vulnerable populations. He is one of 25 finalists nationwide who received a $5,625 National Honor Society Scholarship. The scholarships recognize students who exemplify the four pillars of NHS membership: scholarship, service, leadership and character.
“I’ve followed my passions,” Garrabrant, 18, said about his volunteer efforts and other activities. “I am pretty busy, but I try to balance things every day. I completely schedule out my day, taking it day by day, and sometimes it’s pretty chaotic, but it’s worth it.
“I know my spending two hours a day to help others can make a big impact, especially to those who need help to survive.”
Garrabrant’s mother, Jessica, said, “He is thoughtful, caring and inquisitive, and he’s so smart. He’s got a great leadership style that’s not in your face. He has a way of connecting with others.”
Jessica, an FBI agent (her husband Daniel is a retired FBI agent), said her three children had a somewhat unusual childhood as a result.
“They’ve seen us work for our country, loyalty,” she said. “Our parents always instilled in us a good work ethic, which we’ve been able to pass on to our children. Whenever we did any type of community service, we also encouraged our children to bring a few friends with them, get them involved, too. You can always be more effective by getting others involved.”
When Garrabrant was about 8 years old, he made bracelets and sold them, making $100, which he donated to the Wounded Warrior Project.
That was the beginning of his myriad volunteer efforts.
“Living in Margate, I am pretty close to Atlantic City, which has a high population of impoverished,” he said. “Living so close has made it possible for me to give back to my community.”
At age 9 he joined Post Crashers, a nonprofit youth-led service-learning club that supports homeless veterans and that was affiliated with the American Legion Post 295 in Northfield. As a leader, he helped grow the membership to more than 900 youths, and the club donated more than 30,000 meals and more than 22,000 pounds of produce. His efforts and Post Crashers were honored by Northfield as the 2024 Citizen of the Year.
Driven by his lifelong love for agriculture, he founded Chris’s Coastal Crops, a program educating underprivileged youths on gardening and healthy eating, through which he transformed neglected spaces into community resources.
“All the food we raise is donated to different food cupboards in the Atlantic City area, and the different children’s groups help us harvest the food,” he said. “We also do different crafts with them. While they aren’t the direct beneficiaries of the produce, we use our gardens to help educate them while having fun.”
As the only junior officer of his school’s NHS chapter, he created “Stock the Shelves,” an effort to collect donations for food pantries. As NHS president, he grew “Stock the Shelves” to multiple honor society chapters, donating thousands of food items and sandwiches.
“Originally it was a challenge between Ocean City and our rival, Mainland Regional High School,” he said. “The challenge consists of two parts: a food drive, in which all the proceeds go to the local food pantry that is close to our high schools, and a peanut butter and jelly drive in which both honor societies got together to make as many PB&Js as possible. All the proceeds of the PB&J drive went to the Atlantic City rescue mission.”
While volunteering takes a lot of his time, he also manages to enjoy swimming and lacrosse and is captain of each of those teams.
“I love the sport of lacrosse and have been playing it since second grade,” he said. “Swimming I did when I was younger, then stopped in fifth grade, but took it up again. I really love the team and coach, and the cammaraderie we have.”
He also is vice president of the school’s Math Club, founder/president of the Standardized Testing Club, which helps students prepare for college entrance exams, an officer on the Class Council, and founder/president of the school’s Grilling Club, which started this year and prepares food for various events, such as Thanksgiving.
He was Rookie of the Year for more than 60 rescues as a Margate lifeguard and enjoys spending time at the beach, especially over holiday weekends.
“I like to relax, too,” he said, “and hang out with my friends. We started playing poker this year, and we’re really enjoying Texas Hold ’em.”
He will attend Harvard University in the fall, where he plans to major in electrical engineering and applied mathematics under a Navy ROTC four-year scholarship, which pays tuition. He hopes to serve his country as a naval officer. He said he is in the top five of his graduating class of about 300.
“My mom is from the Boston area and I just love it up there,” Garrabrant said. “While Harvard was my top choice of college, I also got in to the Naval Academy. There was some pressure to go to the Academy, especially after I got the endorsements I needed, but I can still do ROTC at MIT, where I will be going two or three days a week for training and labs.
“As I look ahead to my future in higher education and naval service, I’m eager to expand my efforts in sustainable agriculture and community service. I hope to weave my experiences into new opportunities that foster positive change.
“Every garden I’ve planted and every child I’ve taught reminds me of the resilience we can nurture in ourselves and others.”
Contact the reporter, Karen Knight, at kknight@cmcherald.com.
