Alec Hembree, a senior in the Architecture school, spent Saturdays of his Spring semester as a chaperon for SU Recreation Services and Outdoor Education. During his volunteer work, Alec oversaw the Lake Placid day drip SU offered for students, and chaperoned the Ski and Snowboard program on campus. He was responsible for keeping track of the transportation of students to and from the event activity site and monitoring the safety of the students attending the trip. Before becoming a chaperon for these events, Alec actually attended these events as a student. Having this insight as both an attendee and a chaperon, Alec said that “I have a greater understanding of the amount of work required to organize a mass of students for activities and of the necessity of responsibility in the case of injury during the event. There is a lot of hard work put into the events that I had so much fun at.” Alec says that he is still a chaperon for SU Recreation Services and hopes to further develop his leadership skills and sense of responsibility.
Contributing Blogger Samantha DeTore, ’15 Arts and Sciences
Jennifer Lawson, a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences, volunteered her Spring Break as a member of Global Brigades. Global Brigades is the world’s largest student-led global health and sustainable development organization. Their vision is to improve quality of life and their mission is to resolve global health and economic disparities through the empowerment of student volunteers such as Jennifer. During her time with Global Brigades, Jennifer participated in a medical brigade for three days in Honduras. There, the brigade established a medical clinic and saw over 400 patients. The experience offered development of valuable leadership skills and allowed Jennifer to reflect on the luxuries we utilize every day. Jennifer said that from this experience “I have learned to never take the modern medical care we have for granted. The majority of people I saw during this experience had never received any type of medical treatment or care before. The simplicity of their lives and health problems shed light on the amenities we take for granted on a daily basis.”
Henry Peterson, a senior studying Engineering and Computer Science, volunteered his time building a house for an underprivileged family with Habitat 4 Humanity. He was part of a group of 15 students who constructed and secured supports and external walls as well as parts of the interior structure of the house. During construction, Henry was able to meet with the future homeowner and listen to how this opportunity changed her life. Through this civic engagement project, Henry learned about the time and dedication it takes to run an organization like Habitat 4 Humanity. Not only did he get to experience the gratitude of the future homeowner, but he also realized “for great things to be completed a lot of dedication from volunteers is needed.” In the future, Henry plans on volunteering more of his time to Habitat 4 Humanity.