Volunteering

by Bhagee Ganesan

So you want to volunteer. But how do you start? Where do you begin? I have been volunteering with a nonprofit organization, the North South Foundation (NSF), for more than 6 years; this is how I got started and what has worked for me. (You can check them and their mission out at northsouth.org.)

1. I found an organization that I knew was making a palpable difference and conducted events regularly. I happened to find NSF when I began competing in their spelling bees and chose to volunteer after I could no longer compete because I wanted to give back to an organization that had given me and students who were less fortunate than me so much. Bottom line: you need to be passionate about the cause you are volunteering for.
2. I went big. What do I mean by “going big”? I mean that when I began volunteering for the North South Foundation, I did not try to vie for attention, but chose to contribute in a sustained manner. One of the biggest misconceptions I see with underclassmen in high school is that they believe that without the publicity, volunteering will not help them professionally. This is far from true; sustained volunteer efforts often build skills you will need as a professional (see my next point about learning experiences).
3. I ensured that I used the opportunities I got to learn anything and everything I could. I began a spelling bee prep club for my local chapter. Developing a curriculum to teach more than 60 students was an overwhelming task; up until then, I was only coaching about 6 students from my area per year on a rather sporadic basis. My uncertainty taught me self-reflection, for when I thought about my spelling journey, I knew how I could help other students avoid my mistakes and give them the resources they would need. The immense responsibility of developing a curriculum, following through with it, and refining it also made me take initiative and be as involved as possible to ensure that it ran smoothly. That first year made me realize what true grassroots leadership was.
4. I adapted to every situation. While my supervisor was very happy that I ran a prep club that emphasized strategies over memorization, he worried that I wouldn’t be able to make very many students successful. “Most people aren’t as committed as you expect them to be,” he said, and he wasn’t wrong. But there were plenty who were motivated and just needed the right tools. I knew I could not let those students down. So I eased up. Being more hands-off allowed me to help my motivated students more; one student even placed in the top three of central Ohio’s regional spelling bee, almost making it to the Scripps National Spelling Bee.
5. I made sure that my impact was lasting. Within a year of its founding, the prep club had expanded to two locations in the Columbus area...and then the location I was running was canceled. I was also becoming more involved in the regional competition run by my chapter. So we youth volunteers, as more of us joined, began sharing our resources to redistribute our responsibilities. We now have a team of youth coaches, of which I am still one using my curriculum as a foundation for their lesson plans as they successfully tutor more than 200 spellers every year and help them succeed in the NSF and Scripps spelling bee circuits.

These are the five most important things that I have done during my time as a volunteer with NSF. I am so grateful to this organization for what it has given me and allowed me to give. By following these tips, I believe that your volunteer experience will be just as enriching as mine.

Happy Volunteering!