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I am bachelor student now and I have started volunteering with food raising for homeless in my home city, but the thing that learned me the most was student union - i was chair of student union at my department - (i'm not sure if it counts as volunteering - in my country -Poland- student unions do a lot, too much in my opinion).
What I have learned: leadership, how to motivate others, how to negotiate with authorities, how long it takes and how many rooms you have to visit to get funding for some event, how to run events, promotion, even some graphics (or rather - where to find cheap tools to create fancy leaflets or posters ). Before I was quite shy and of course at some point I still am , but I have really exceeded my interpersonal and time management skills, I got some experience in law issues- stipends, for example ( at my uni it was student union who was responsible for that ). Though it's not as rewarding as helping homeless or children, and in my opinion we were doing the donkey work , I am glad I have spent this time there, because it have me experience , contacts and sometimes satisfaction of organising something that other student enjoyed. Also, I was volunteering at international classical music festival in my city - it was really great - you get tickets for free for almost every concert, the atmosphere is amazing and it's also experience for interpersonal skills. Once I was a pilot for small orchestra and I had amazing time going there and back by bus talking with musicians about their experience and basically everything, we even had a little party on the way back. In the bus ;) these types of events lets you get into fancy banquets, meet some famous people (i talked to really great director ) and also - contacts. Now I am volunteering in hospital to get some experience as patient assistant - we help patients find themselves in our big and messy hospital. To sum up - it is really rewarding, but it costs time. A lot of it. I think you might learn most of these things somewhere else, where you are paid, but also you have more responsibilities and it is harder in the beginning. And of course - poeple you volunteer with are usually really interesting and become good friends ! |