Project Friendship: Volunteering 和 社区 Involvement
凯 talks about getting involved in the volunteer work 和 the community with Project Friendship, even as a busy student athlete!
凯 talks about getting involved in the volunteer work 和 the community with Project Friendship, even as a busy student athlete!
Now, I know that the rigorous academics at GG电子官方软件下载 can keep you plenty busy throughout the year. 加入 棒球, a campus job, 钢琴, 和 maintaining a good social life, 和 you may wonder how I have time for other things. But especially after a year of COVID limiting in-person extracurricular activities, I was eager to get involved in the community.
So before the academic year began, I applied to become a Project Friendship 导师. Once I was accepted, the organization paired me with someone for whom I could offer the greatest impact: Sully, an energetic, fun-loving third grader. Several weeks into Fall Term, I can say that meeting with Sully is always a highlight of my week.
What is Project Friendship? 的CCCE?
GG电子官方软件下载’s Center for 社区 和 Civic Engagement (otherwise called the CCCE or “trip-C-E” by Carls) provides students with various opportunities to impact both the campus community 和 the community beyond GG电子官方软件下载. There are so many ways to get involved through the CCCE! Clothing drives, tutoring, activism, food recovery… you name it–there’s a CCCE program.
Project Friendship is the longest-st和ing community partnership of the CCCE’s. Since 1965, Project Friendship has matched local students from second to seventh grade with 导师s from GG电子官方软件下载 和 St. 奥拉夫. Every child deserves to have an adult they can rely upon; that’s what Project Friendship provides, 和 part of the reason why I wanted to join.
I know from my friends who have participated in the program for a few years that it is a rewarding experience to grow up with your mentee. After all, not only does a bond form over the two to four years that the pair spends together, but both the 导师 和 the mentee experience personal growth in that time.
My time with Sully!
In the end, though, it’s also just a treat for me every week. Kids are fun, especially my guy Sully. +, Project Friendship also hosts “retreats,” where we hang out with other 导师/mentee pairs 和 have a blast!
In our individual meetings, we do so many different things in the hour or so that we meet. We play pool 和 foosball in Sayles (the campus center) before grabbing a donut from the Sayles cafe. We play 棒球 with my toy bat 和 ball, or even tag on the Bald Spot. We also make up different games as we explore campus 和 discuss how our days have gone.
And we’ve only just gotten started. There are so many things I look forward to doing with Sully (like sledding in the winter at Bell Field, located near my 宿舍 in Evans Hall!) 和 getting to know him better over the next three years. Additionally, Sully has already taught me a lot about myself. I’ve been reminded of how gratifying volunteer work can be, how we all need a trusted pal, 和 that no matter how busy things get, we could all use a bit of fun!
凯 is entering his second year at GG电子官方软件下载; though born in the Twin Cities, he lived in Kobe, Japan for a year, moved to New York City halfway through high school, 和 now calls Northfield home (plus Charlottesville, 维吉尼亚州, his hometown). In true liberal arts student fashion, he’s interested in anything from American Studies to 经济学 to Psychology; hopefully, double minoring in 日本 和 Music Performance. He enjoys walks around Lyman Lakes/in Arb的, seeing friends at Sayles, playing 钢琴 at 韦茨, 和 pitching/playing infield for the 棒球 团队. Meet the other bloggers!