HEAR Award 2023
Did you know volunteering can involve not only giving up your time to help but also getting you rewarded and adding some spice to your CV?
Volunteering with Discovery gives you the access to apply to earn the university’s HEAR award depending on the number of hours you’ve completed which is eligible to all students in the university!
What is the HEAR Award?
The Higher Education Achievement Report (HEAR) award is a formal university-verified document that provides records of your academic and personal achievements or extra-curricular learning experiences within the university. The award seeks to go beyond the traditional degree classification system and show your assessment marks and more comprehensive achievements you’ve explored or undertaken at university, such as volunteering. This award recognizes your achievements outside the class by getting a certificate for all the volunteering you do and your academic portfolio (and CV), which enhances your employability. You are eligible to apply for the award a couple of months before you graduate.
It doesn’t matter if you haven’t volunteered with us for a while; as long as you have ever volunteered with Discovery while at university, you should apply. Find out what it entails and how to apply down this blog.
How it works
The HEAR awards are set at three different levels each being handed out based on meeting the requirement of that level. There is the Bronze, Silver, and Gold. As you aim to grab a higher level, there are more requirements to meet to attain it. But with Discovery you can naturally progress to achieve higher awards without stress.
How to Achieve a Bronze Award
- You must complete 50+ hours of volunteering with Discovery and making sure to have logged these hours onto the volunteer database
- You must write a 200–300 word reflective piece on your volunteering
How to Achieve a Silver Award
- being an active project coordinator, a Discovery Ambassador, a student trustee, or being part of the Siavonga summer programme
- A complete 75+ hours of volunteering with Discovery and logged these hours onto the volunteer database
- You write 200–300 word reflective piece on your volunteering
- You attend all relevant meetings
How to Achieve a Gold Award
- be an active project coordinator, Discovery ambassador or student trustee
- You must complete 100+ hours of volunteering with Discovery and logged these hours onto the volunteer database.
- You must write 300-400 word reflective piece on your volunteering
- You must attend all relevant meetings
- You must have represented Discovery at two events.
Suitable events include:
- The Virtual Sofa on Facebook
- Promoting Discovery at lecture talks
- The Discovery fayre
- Speaking at Discovery webinars
- Representing Discovery on digital media in films
- Quotes about volunteering
- Doing Instagram/Facebook takeovers etc
How do I apply?
To apply for the HEAR Award all you have to do is hit the criteria, write your reflective piece and then submit it via the following form:
You can apply for the award a couple of months before you graduate and it doesn’t matter if you haven’t volunteered with us for a while, if you have volunteered with Discovery whilst at university you should apply.
The link for the form to apply for your HEAR Award is below:
https://forms.gle/xVXqrPjPcYFQC3iu9
If you want some inspiration about what to put in your reflective piece then attend the ‘How to talk about your volunteering’ workshop on Thursday 16th March 5-6pm. Sign up here https://volunteering.discoverysvs.org/volunteers/opportunity/10197690