News: LEAP Explores How to Make the Most of Student Volunteer Opportunities

Special to VivaLoudoun via Loudoun County Public Schools
(Sept. 29, 2010) - Knowing something about the activity they’re volunteering for is the key to making volunteering a successful tool in building a student’s future. That’s the message that a group of people very familiar with students and volunteering gave during the first meeting of the Loudoun Education Alliance of Parents for the 2010-2011 school year on September 15th.


When your student wants to volunteer, ask the volunteer organization for a position description and for the expectations it has of volunteers. That was the advice offered by Karen McQuaid, president of Volunteer Loudoun. She detailed questions students could be asked by the volunteer organization before signing on:

“Are you willing to do business from your own cell phone with clientele?”
“Are you willing to drive clientele?”
“Do you have enough time to commit to what we want you to do?”

McQuaid said students shouldn’t be disappointed if they’re not a match for a group they want to volunteer with. “They might not need what they need from you; please don’t be hurt.”

McQuaid said that 27 percent of America’s 22 million volunteers are teenagers. However, 86 percent of teen volunteering is episodic (three months in duration or less). That means teens don’t always fit into a volunteer organization’s long-range plans.

That said, McQuaid added that social networking allows teens to create volunteer opportunities that fit their lifestyle. “They see a cause and they create a path.”

When a student pursues a volunteer activity, she said they have to be ready to commit the time necessary to meet their responsibilities. “You have to be able to follow through.”

Responsibility is one of the major things volunteering can teach a student, she added. That lesson is negated when a parent takes over some of the volunteer activities to take pressure off the student. “It’s not going to help you. It’s not going to help the organization.”

Rosa Sherrod, a member of Volunteer Loudoun’s Board of Directors, said volunteering can be an experience builder, a preview of a potential career, a social opportunity and a confidence builder for students. It can get them to leave their comfort zone and grow. “You begin to do things you never tried before.”

Volunteering doesn’t mean having to join an organization, she added. Students can volunteer by collecting recyclables at a public place, such as a fire station, on a regular basis. They can cut a neighbor’s lawn, tutor a fellow student or read to the elderly.

When doing such activities, Sherrod said students should compile a “Make a Difference” booklet. Such a booklet could contain the name of the person helped, the date and time and the things the student learned from volunteering.

“It does not have to be in a formal setting,” said McQuaid. “It does not have to be in the school…It has to be something that made a difference.”

On a more formal basis, the student can keep a record of their volunteer activities to be eligible for scholarships and recognitions, such as Volunteer Loudoun’s Student of the Month. To learn more about these programs, go to www.loudoun.gov/volunteer.

Woodgrove High School Guidance Director Geri Fiore opened her presentation with a quote she said summarized the value of volunteering: “The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in service to others.”

Colleges often look at how a student has made a meaningful contribution to society and what their non-academic passions are when deciding whether to admit them, Fiore said. Volunteering also demonstrates that a student has time-management skills.

Time management can be very tricky, she added. The student has to demonstrate that they can take their passion for a cause to the next level without overburdening themselves. “A lot of times students feel like they have to take on the world.”

Fiore said it is the depth of volunteer experiences, not their breadth that impresses colleges; pick one volunteer activity and do it very well, rather than volunteering with several organizations.

Fiore cautioned that volunteer experiences can’t guarantee a student admission to the college of their choice. They can, however, take a student out of the “maybe pile.” Colleges also have merit-based scholarships where volunteering is a major factor.

On the high school level, Fiore said volunteering can be a major factor in deciding which students are admitted to the National Honor Society.

Steve Davis, a member of the Region 15 Board of Directors for Odyssey of the Mind (OM), gave the LEAP delegates a volunteer opportunity their students could participate in. First, Davis urged students to continue Odyssey of the Mind through high school; where competition thins for top prizes. Failing that, he urged high school students who participated in OM in elementary and middle school to go back and be assistant coaches for younger students.

Older students also can gain volunteer hours by helping to run local and regional competitions.

“We will find a job for them and get them credit,” said Davis.

The next LEAP meeting will be October 13th. The subject will be “Nutritional Awareness and Keeping Kids Fit.”