Volunteer exhibition will hopefully be a new tradition at university college
There are lots of opportunities to engage in volunteer work.
But often students don’t know the variety of volunteering work. To help non-profit organizations and students come together, the In for Care-partners in Denmark has for the second year in a row helped to arrange an exhibition that brings together students at University College South Denmark – UC SYD – and volunteer organizations in Esbjerg, Denmark.
“We found that students don’t know how versatile volunteering work can be”, Vinie Levisen, one of the partners, explains.
Student wants to help
Mette Heinsen studies social education. She talked to young volunteers at the non-profit organization IMCC, who among other things teaches sex education to teenagers. Heinsen is currently working on a project on sex education. She has just recently started her education, so she would like to know the education better before she starts volunteering. But she is interested.
“It will make sense for me. The aim of my education is to help other people, and volunteering is a great way to accomplish that. I think the exhibition is super. It is easier to go and talk to somebody than it is to find information online and take contact. Plus, you get to see for yourself how many opportunities that exists”, she explains.
Targeted for students
This year the organizers invited fewer volunteering organizations than the first year – only the most relevant for the students of UC SYD. The evaluations from last year showed that the non-profit organizations didn’t get to talk to as many students as they had hoped.
The evaluations also showed that mostly students who were already interested in volunteering attended the exhibition, but that they were even more interested and knew more about the opportunities after attending the exhibition.
Need volunteers
Exitcirklen is one of the non-profit organizations that attended the exhibition. It helps victims of mental abuse.
“We are only just starting in Esbjerg, and therefore we need volunteers. We are happy to be given the opportunity and we talked to some students”, says Camilla Dremark from Exitcirklen.
Lone Oest and Vinie Levisen from In for Care hope that the exhibition will be a returning yearly tradition at UC SYD, even when the In for Care-project has ended.