For years, I volunteered with Kamloops Minor Hockey. After growing up playing in the Association, I was encouraged to give back. Some of the highlights for me were running the Female First Time program, being part of the First Shift program, and being an assistant coach to many different female teams over the years. With every experience, I learned more than I ever thought I would. I was shown how much the young athletes needed strong role models and for those role models to show them respect and care. I am very proud to have been able to be a coach with the association.
I was also lucky enough to volunteer for the BC Winter Games in 2018. I did participate accreditation under Participant and Volunteer Services (it sounds fancy but I just checked participants in!) Volunteering for the games was a really cool experience for me because my mom was the Volunteer Coordinator so I got to work under her (again, I also worked under her when she owned Scoopz Ice Cream Parlour). Seeing my mom thrive under pressure and be a really strong supporter of every volunteer that she roped into the Games was so cool to me. I have always seen my mom as a strong, smart, capable woman but it was amazing to see her flourish in the spotlight that was put onto her and be able to share how hard she works with everyone else!
My final volunteer experience that I would like to share took place in Lima, Peru. I took a trip there with Developing World Connections to help build a school building in an impoverished neighbourhood within Lima. When I went on this trip, I was 18 years old and I didn’t know any of the people that I was going with. I showed up to the Lima airport in the middle of the night and went with a strange man who only spoke Spanish who was holding a sign with my name misspelled on it. In hindsight, I took a lot of risks on that trip that I may not have if I was older and had the experiences that I have now.
Once we got to the worksite, the differences and similarities I could see to my past experiences were amazing. Some things are universal – the love between a mom and the child she is picking up for school, the way kids screeched with happiness when they get to go outside to play soccer, the joy in cooking a meal for the whole school to enjoy. The differences are what really taught me an important lesson. The neighbourhood that we were in was very poor. They did not have much for themselves but all of the people we met were so generous. They gave us whatever they could spare – even when we didn’t need it.
That trip taught me the amazing resilience of humans and the joy that can be found anywhere in the world.
All three of these experiences don’t outwardly link to teaching and learning but throughout all of these experiences I learned so many different skills that will benefit me in the classroom and community. Watching my mom do her best work taught me that each person has a brilliance inside of them that sometimes they need help to let shine. Coaching taught me the value of a trusted adult. Working on the school building in Peru taught me empathy and how things can be different but that doesn’t mean that they are bad.
I have learned many lessons over my years volunteering and I hope to continue to volunteer more so that I can learn more!