Why did you choose to volunteer?
I chose to volunteer just because I thought about giving back to the community. I went to a school which wasn't very affluent, I guess, and part of that was that I got to be part of a widening participation initiative, which is kind of a charity run to help people get into med school, etc. So I've always been interested in kind of giving back, and so that's kind of my motivation.
What have you enjoyed most during your time as a volunteer?
I think the people, you know, are seeing getting to network, getting to meet people, getting to try to inspire some of these young people to think of kind of futures and further higher education and also just see them have fun. I think that's probably just the people element, you know, working with everyone involved in the whole process.
How much of an impact do you feel your volunteering has made?
I think it's actually you know, it's starting to pick up momentum. We had a little bit of a good wave and then the pandemic kind of stalled things a little bit. But I think, you know, we've been involved with loads of kids. It's hard to know directly what kind of impact that has, but I hope that they've appreciated the sessions. And now that we're beginning to network and thinking about expanding to other areas and hearing some positive comments even from like national governing organizations, you know, I cantell that we're having some sort of impact. So, you know, hopefully a positive one.
What would you tell a student who is thinking about volunteering?
No question. You need to do it. Just think about, you know, everyone's got an academic degree these days and that's why you're at university. But what you need to kind of formulate are those soft skills, the management, the leadership. They're being able to talk to people, the networking, volunteering helps with all of that. And also it's just a really good way to kind of give back and feel good about yourself and also be a bit more, you know, a community player. The United Nations, they have a set of sustainable development goals. And I think everyone should try their best to at least contribute to one or two of them. And that's how we're kind of going to get to a better place, both, you know, economically in terms of the community and everything.
If you could sum up your volunteering experience in one word, what would it be?
Growth, you know, had the ability to grow, probably!