{"id":4779,"date":"2021-05-02T17:11:54","date_gmt":"2021-05-02T21:11:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cah.ucf.edu\/imprint\/?p=4779"},"modified":"2021-05-06T16:45:33","modified_gmt":"2021-05-06T20:45:33","slug":"charging-beyond-hours-and-credits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cah.ucf.edu\/imprint\/charging-beyond-hours-and-credits\/","title":{"rendered":"Charging Beyond Hours and Credits"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Seva Reilly<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I say, \u201cGo Knights!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You say, \u201cCharge on!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I ask a follow up question: \u201cAnd where are you charging to?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Your answers are indistinguishable, because they are varied. Seniors are charging forwarding into graduation and future jobs; others are charging on to internships or study abroad experiences. Still others are charging forward with graduate, medical, or another professional school in mind. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But for students who aren\u2019t at that point yet, students who can only manage to focus on assignment after assignment after assignment, it can feel like you\u2019re going nowhere. During the COVID-19 pandemic, I\u2019ve often felt that I am not a Charging Knight, but rather a knight wandering through a fog of homework and classes. While I prize the opportunity to earn an education, I\u2019ve also experienced the monotony of study life (especially during quarantine).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For me, that\u2019s where volunteering comes in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Volunteering helps me break out of my ruts and gets me involved. Volunteering is far more than the number of hours on your transcript – it\u2019s an opportunity for you to meet other volunteers and members of the community, develop your skills, and discover new interests, all while advancing your cause of choice. It\u2019s an invaluable experience that I think everyone should take advantage of! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are several pathways to start volunteering. Many of them overlap, but, generally speaking, you\u2019ll find a diversity of experiences when you use a variety of routes to search for opportunities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Ask Someone You Know<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Like most Florida high schoolers, I needed 100 hours to qualify for the Bright Futures scholarship. As a busy student, I wasn\u2019t able to make a separate outing to volunteer, so I asked teachers at my school if they could use a teacher\u2019s assistant. I was able to volunteer in a middle school English class and in elementary arts and reading classes, experiences that inspired me to pursue a major in communication sciences and disorders. You never know what opportunities your classmates, friends, professors, and family members might know about, or what experiences they\u2019ll be able to provide you with!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Browse Your Options<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

As I started my freshman year, I knew I wanted to find a way to volunteer at UCF. After searching through the online Knight Connect database of Registered Student Organizations (RSOs), I learned that there are more UCF groups than I could have imagined. I also attended Opening Knight, one of the events hosted by UCF Knights of the Round Table to promote campus organizations. At the event, I spoke with a variety of organizations in person, such as Aphasia Family UCF, Volunteer UCF, and Knights Hunger Coalition. (All of these organizations I either volunteered with previously or continue to volunteer with now!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A less formal way to browse is to check out the various UCF organizations on social media. One networking strategy is to look at volunteer organization accounts and see what accounts they follow (for instance, organizations like Volunteer UCF follow related groups at\/near UCF). During quarantine, I used social media to learn about organizations offering virtual volunteer opportunities (like Volunteer UCF) and to write a \u201cTo Volunteer\u201d list of groups I want to join in the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once you start looking, you\u2019re bound to find something on campus that interests you!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Start with Your Hobbies and Talents<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

This is a good strategy when you know what you want to do, but you don\u2019t know what organization offers this opportunity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Personally, I knew I wanted to volunteer to share my music with others. During my first semester at UCF, I joined the Latino Medical Student Association Plus to complete arts and crafts with residents at an assisted living facility. Although I do not aspire to attend medical school, nor identify as Latino, I greatly enjoyed meeting members of the group and playing the piano at the assisted living facility. I\u2019ve played the piano for years, but since I\u2019m not majoring in music, I\u2019ve had few opportunities to play after ending high school piano lessons. Volunteering with LMSA+ was the perfect chance to share my creativity and abilities with others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Seva