Why Students should Volunteer whilst at University
Congratulations, you’ve reached the milestone in your life of reaching university! Now I suppose you’re wondering what extra activities you can get involved in alongside your studies. Societies? A part-time job? Volunteering? We want to tell you about some of the benefits of volunteering whilst completing your studies.
Meet New People & Socialise
One of the most exciting aspects about volunteering at university is that you can meet an abundance of new people to socialise with. Now more than ever is this an important activity to look for whilst at university.
Here at Discovery, we offer so many opportunities that allow you to meet new people:
- Get to know other volunteers in activities such as our Fundraising project, where you can work together over Zoom to come up with fresh ideas to help Discovery raise money.
- Socialise with the older generation in our Age Cymru Befrienders project, and help older people feel less lonely during these difficult times.
- Share some laughs with those younger than you and also help them with their homework in our EYST project.
Learn New Skills
Whilst you’re at university, it’s easy to throw yourself into your studies and forget about developing life skills – that’s something volunteering can help you with. Through fun and interactive projects, you can develop new skills and get hands-on experience related to your degree
By volunteering in one of our projects, there are so many skills for you to develop and learn:
- Develop your creativity skills by volunteering in our Inspire project. You can help our team come up with fun ideas for activity packs that we can send to less-fortunate children in the Swansea/Llanelli area.
- Work on digital skills such as copywriting or graphics design in our Digital Media project where you can help create marketing assets to share the word about Discovery.
- Improve your communication and interpersonal skills by helping to teach technology to older adults and adults with additional needs in our Gadget Explorers project.
- Looking for something with more responsibility? Here at Discovery, we offer students the opportunity to become a project co-ordinator which allows you to take the lead on projects to enhance your management skills.
Enhance your CV
Training Opportunities
Volunteering enables students to leave university with not only a degree but with valuable skills and training that you can add to your CV. That’s right, all of those skills you’ve developed through helping others and meeting new people are a great way to make your CV stand out!
Some of the training opportunities that we offer include:
- Autism awareness
- Learning disability awareness
- Safeguarding
- Disability awareness
Certificates for your Hours
On top of training opportunities, at Discovery you can earn certifications for completing a set amount of hours which is a fantastic addition to your CV! The certificates that we award include:
- 50 hours = Bronze
- 75 hours = Silver
- 100 hours = Gold
Virtual Volunteering to Increase your Hours
Here at Discovery, we provide students with the opportunity to grow their volunteering hours through exciting, remote projects as well as independent virtual volunteering.
Some of the virtual activities that you can get involved with include:
- Spotting animals in a cloud library of images to help with animal conservation from your home.
- Playing word games to help raise funds for the World Food Programme.
- Supporting blind and low-vision people via an app.
- And so many more, just check out our website here.
Benefit from Positivity & Self-satisfaction
The COVID-19 pandemic has taken a massive toll on everyone’s lives in one shape or form. During times like this, it is so important to find things in your life that bring positivity and happiness.
We find that many volunteers find the reward of self-satisfaction and positivity from helping others, and this stems from a variety of activities including:
- Supporting older adults learning the English language in our ELTS project.
- Working with other volunteers in our Building Blocks project to create interactive LEGO activity packs for children.
- Helping lonely patients in the NHS setting feel less alone by designing digital activities in our NHS Wellbeing project.
To find out more about our volunteering opportunities, check out our website at https://discoverysvs.org/ or send us an email at discovery@swansea.ac.uk.
Don’t forget to follow us on social media!
Facebook = /DiscoverySVS
YouTube = Discovery Student Volunteering Swansea
Instagram = @DiscoverySVS
Twitter = @DiscoverySVS