Volunteer Fair

A Volunteer Fair was held at the GSC Oconee Quad on Aug. 30 where eight organizations assembled to encouraged students to get involved.

 “An important part of being a college student” Tia Williams, student life specialist at GSCO, said, “[is] to get involved in volunteering.”

She felt the need for more community involvement with GSC students. Williams herself spent her college years getting involved with volunteer work and from that learned just how vital volunteering can be in a student’s life. She believes that by reaching out to a community students will learn values that they can carry through life.

Because she felt the need for student involvement she invited Athens Community Council on Aging, Children First, The Cottage, Goodwill, HandsOn Northeast Georgia, Oconee Parks and Recreation, The Red Cross and Sandy Creek Nature Center to attend the Fair.

Offering a variety of volunteer opportunities ranging anywhere from helping people find employment through Goodwill to giving nature tours and information to children at the Sandy Creek Nature Center, there are still positions ripe and waiting for students to take action.

GSCO and these organizations are both waiting for students to step up to the plate and do their part. Williams said that the “altruistic feeling” of volunteering is great and she hopes that students will also experience this.

Furthermore, students volunteering will help GSCO reach their own goal of community involvement.

“I don’t want us to just be here in Watkinsville and not be a part of what we’re in the middle of,” Williams said.

Advocacy Specialist for Children First, Mary Joyce, also understands this goal. During the Volunteer Fair she reminisced about her college days, explaining how she believes her story is very similar to other college students.

“It was very easy to get stuck in a bubble with friends, school, and work and not discover the community,” Joyce said.

For information on how to get active in the community and avoid getting stuck in a “bubble” there are websites available. There are organizations wanting to be discovered and waiting for volunteers.