6 | LIFE @ CMU
CENTRAL MICHIGAN LIFE y ORIENTATION 2020
8 Reasons to Volunteer
Hannah Fox (seventh from left) takes a break while seving lunch at the GMHC when I site-led the LGBTQ+ Solidarity Alternative Spring Break.
By Hannah Fox May 2020 Alumna
If you had asked me what I wanted to get involved in as a new student, I can almost guarantee you that I would not have said, “Volunteering!” At that time, I saw volunteering as a requirement that I had to fulfill to graduate high school, and something that I would likely need to commit a few hours to in college, too. I didn’t mind meeting those requirements, but I also wasn’t actively seeking them out. During my first semester on campus, I was required to meet a small service requirement for a class assignment, so I checked out an opportunity through the Mary Ellen Brandell Volunteer Center. After spending a couple of hours in the Volunteer Center, I was hooked. The Volunteer Center became one of my favorite places on campus. I often refer to it as my home away from home. I spent all eight semesters of my undergraduate experience deeply involved in several of the Volunteer Center’s programs. Here are some of the lessons I learned during my service journey that changed how I view volunteering. VOLUNTEERING DOESN’T JUST MEAN “RAKING LEAVES ON A SUNDAY AFTERNOON.” My high school offered fairly limited opportunities for volunteering - they would let us know when an elderly member of our community needed some yard work done, or ask us to come early to events to set up tables and chairs. These experiences skewed my perception of what I could do as a volunteer. After coming to college I quickly learned that there is an entire world of possibilities. Through the Volunteer Center you
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can spend your time mentoring students in local elementary schools, guiding baby sea turtles back to the ocean on Florida beaches, or making and distributing safer sex or abstinence kits. You can also form co-mentor relationships with residents in local nursing homes and assisted living facilities or help clean up walking trails and parks. If none of these opportunities are calling to you, know that they are merely a few examples of the types of service you can find through the Volunteer Center. I like to say that they truly have something to meet all interests. When you participate in any of our programs, you will spend time learning the why behind your service before you even get started. The Volunteer Center believes in educated service to ensure that you, as a volunteer, understand who you are working with, what you are doing, and why it needs to be done. So sure, you may end up raking some leaves along the way - I know I did - but you will also take time to reflect on the experiences to unpack the impact that they made on you and your community partner.
YOU CAN TAKE CLASSES CENTERED AROUND VOLUNTEERING. CMU offers several service learning courses, which they define as, “a form of experiential education in which students participate in meaningful service activities that meet identified community needs and are integrated with course student learning outcomes.” I took advantage of three service learning opportunities while enrolled at CMU, and I would easily count them in my list of favorite classes. My first year I took a course about the prison industrial complex and we spent eight weeks out of the semester meeting with inmates in the Saginaw Correctional Facility. We met with the same inmates every week in small groups to get to know each other and discuss conflict management. Some of my
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classmates were so inspired by the work we did in this course that they even formed their own RSO - Student Advocates for Prison Reform and the Incarcerated (SAPRI). My sophomore year my classmates and I learned about the ways that music impacts us in our everyday lives, including the powerful ways in which it can help heal the mind and body. Using what we learned, we helped design a music-themed garden for a hospital in West Branch. Our plans serve as the blueprint that future classes can use to implement our ideas and build the garden. Finally, during my junior year, I spent a week on Beaver Island. My classmates and I spent the week facilitating science experiments and hosting a science fair for the students of the Beaver Island Community School. I am so grateful for every memory I made through these experiences and would highly encourage everyone to look through the service-learning courses being offered to find one that inspires you!
VOLUNTEERING BUILDS COMMUNITY AND CONNECTIONS. When I think of connections I’ve made through volunteering, my mind goes to two places - connections with community partners and connections with the people around me. I was involved with America Counts and Reads for seven amazing semesters - two as a Tutor, and five as the Student Coordinator. When I stepped into the program we already had deep connections with the Mount Pleasant Public Schools, as well as Saginaw Chippewa Academy and elementary schools in Shepherd, Coleman, and Clare. Their partnership is essential for ACR, and without it we would not have a program. I loved playing a role in fostering those relationships by visiting the schools, meeting with principals and teachers, and having discussions about what we could do to improve our program to
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