My Volunteer Experiences
Here below are a list of my previous volunteer experiences
This work was an option for students to take to fulfill the requirements of CALM* class, or even for students that love to volunteer. I took this experience to fulfill my requirements for CALM. So basically, students had to welcome guests and presenters to the LCI facility, and guide them to the parking lot. Once this is done, then guide them to the gym, and set up the tables. "Career Transitions" is a fair for parents and their kids to see which colleges or universities suits best for them. During the night, we had to go around every guests and tell them if they need anything like water or snacks. After the night is over, we put away tables, and thanked the guests and everyone who went to the fair. Even though it was not one of my favorite event to participate, this experience gave me some needed skills; communication and collaboration, which are two things that are important in every field , including IT.
A great old friend of mine asked me if I could join him at the Lethbridge Soup Kitchen to serve the hungry at around 6 o'clock in the morning. For experience, I said sure and came with him. The work was almost as what I've expected; wash our hands, prepare breakfast, place plates and silverwares on the table, serve the hungry, clean up, and give an helping hand as we go. This experience reminded me a little bit like my previous job "KFC", except it was a free meal for everyone, and there were no complaints about anything. It also shown me that when I volunteer, I am helping the community.
There are at least three people doing the scorekeeping; one that does the shot clock, one that keeps scores and fouls on a sheet, and one that adds scores and fouls on the clock. I've done all of them except writing on the sheet. This experience gave me many insights and skills. It required a lot of focusing and accuracy. Because in a basketball match, if I make a mistake on a score, possibly everyone including the coach, players, and spectators get upset. Also basketball games, especially the men's one, are very fast. So I have to keep up with what has been played. I also did gatekeeping where I've welcomed spectators, players, coaches, and anyone that entered the gym. It was an easy task since all I did was welcoming people, exchanging money, and giving them tickets. There were times where there was no one, and I had to sit on the desk the whole day doing nothing. Sometimes customer service requires a lot of patience and interactive skills since we never know when a customer arrives in a room.
*CALM class is a class that every student at LCI had to take before graduating. It talks about everything that students need to know about being a great person after graduation. Such as how to treat people, how to support ourselves, what is post-secondary, etc..
*LCI stands for "Lethbridge Collegiate Institute"