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AWESOME ALUMNI: PIONEER VOLUNTEER
Heather Adams '98
Pioneer Volunteer: Heather Adams '98
By Sommer Fanney '18
When Guilford launched a new volunteer program in October of 2019, Heather Adams '98 was one of the first to respond to the call for alumni volunteers.
Hailey Hendrix, Assistant Director of Alumni and Parent Volunteer Engagement, describes Heather as “willing to help in every single capacity ...Whenever we have asked her to fill any volunteer position she has answered with an enthusiastic and resounding yes. She loves Guilford and is eager to help in any way she can.”
Heather first rekindled a love for partaking in Guilford’s student development several years back as a representative for the Rockingham County Partnership for Children at one of the spring career fairs.
“When you step back on campus,” recounts Heather, “it’s that Guilford feeling...that magical feeling that it had when you were a student comes back. It’s a very warm and inviting environment, and it was a really big reminder of how much my Guilford experience shaped my career and my life.”
She continued to return each year to the spring career fair, enjoying speaking with students about work in the nonprofit sector. And since Heather is Executive Director of the Rockingham County Partnership for Children, and in a twoyear tenure as President of the Blue Ridge Institute — both nonprofits — Heather has learned plenty that she can pass on to students.
“When I graduated,” recounts Heather, “I wanted to do something that impacted children and do something that made a positive impact on the world. I don’t think I thought far beyond [that] yet...I didn’t have knowledge of how a nonprofit is structured and how a board of directors operates. I think I more so had values that were important to me.”
These values and a desire to pursue positive impacts on children and the world are evident in Heather’s work at the Rockingham County Partnership for Children as well as the Blue Ridge Institute.
The Rockingham County Partnership for Children provides funds, assistance and programming for partners in the business of child care throughout the county, as well as support to families with young children. The group is dedicated to making sure all needs of children in Rockingham County under the age of 5 are substantially met.
Heather says of the Partnership’s work, “That [first five years] set children up for the next phases in their life...There is incredibly important research around the science of brain development now, and that is really driving the work we do. Children are like sponges and their brains are developing rapidly. We are working to ensure they are surrounded by highquality early childhood experiences.”
The Blue Ridge Institute is an almost entirely volunteer-run leadership development organization that holds a conference each July in the mountains of North Carolina for nonprofit executives across the nation.
“Our goal is to help develop, support and strengthen leaders. I find this work really invigorating and inspiring. Supporting strong leadership is critical to social change,” she explains.
Both organizations have in common the purposes of growth, development and excellence — values Heather connects with. These are also values that stand behind Guilford’s new Volunteer Program.
Since she signed up to help with the program last October, Heather has been a Social Media Ambassador for Advancement and has helped as a Giving Day Ambassador, helping encourage her classmates to give for Day for Guilford (April 1st). She has also connected via informational interview with one student curious to learn about life and work in the nonprofit world.
“It’s exciting to talk to someone who is young and energized and has big goals about what they want to do with their life,” says Heather. “Also, a lot of things she was wondering and was concerned about [were the same that I experienced] when I was getting ready to graduate.
“I think there’s also a piece of self-reflection in recognizing I was a Guilford student and now I have further experience in the working world and perspective to offer her. I thought that was quite nice. And quite honestly I was thinking I wish there was someone who had talked to me when I was graduating. So there’s a lot of good structure around the Guided Discovery process.”
The Volunteer Program is currently in need of alumni panelists for enrollment events for this fall, and is always welcoming of help from alumni in any capacity. Please go to giving.guilford.edu/ volunteer to fill out an application and learn more. You can also contact Hailey Hendrix, Assistant Director of Alumni & Parent Volunteer Engagement, at hhendrix@guilford.edu with questions.
