{"id":12340,"date":"2020-04-05T22:59:34","date_gmt":"2020-04-05T22:59:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/insiders\/2020\/04\/05\/how-volunteering-can-enrich-your-student-experience\/"},"modified":"2021-09-15T15:02:49","modified_gmt":"2021-09-15T15:02:49","slug":"how-volunteering-can-enrich-your-student-experience-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/insiders\/cy\/how-volunteering-can-enrich-your-student-experience-2\/","title":{"rendered":"How Volunteering can Enrich your Student Experience"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Most students are blessed with having a pretty decent amount\nof free time. Although this can be spent making a bit of extra cash or chilling\nwith mates, using your time to volunteer will be one of the most rewarding decisions\nyou make during your studies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cardiff University\u2019s volunteering department offers a whole\nhost of opportunities and a variety of roles whether it be working with people,\nanimals or the environment. From helping out disadvantaged children in schools\nor being a friendly face in the local care home, there is even a chance to\nbecome a volunteer dog walker for a Cardiff-based dog shelter (now who wouldn\u2019t\nwant to do that?)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you want to go global, the uni can also make this happen.\nThere are a number of international volunteer projects run by the Global Opportunities\nteam in countries all across the globe. My first year summer took me to Fiji\nwhere I volunteered for a month teaching English and Maths, and coaching sports\nto school children. It is an understatement when I say it was the best\nexperience of my entire time at university. What\u2019s even better, the uni offers\na bursary for every student who undertakes an international placement \u2013 it\u2019s a win-win.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although I haven\u2019t listed every volunteering project on\noffer, if there isn\u2019t something for you, the university will help you kick start\nyour very own volunteering project. There really isn\u2019t any excuse! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So why do it? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are 5 very good reasons why: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

You will be making\na difference to someone, and the local community<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course the most important reason, volunteering has the\npotential to make a profound impact on someone else\u2019s life. Although you may\nfeel like you are doing something small, for example, dropping into a care home\nfor a few hours each week to play games and have a chat, this could mean all\nthe difference to an individuals\u2019 everyday life and bring them a huge amount of\njoy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The feel-good\nfactor<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Volunteering can also help your mental wellbeing as it brings\na great sense of fulfilment. Ultimately, helping others makes us happy and feel\ngood about ourselves, and of course, that is never a bad thing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Making friends<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is an opportunity to make friends for life when\nvolunteering as it is likely you will be associating with like-minded people.\nExpanding your network, especially with other students, could make your general\nuni experience a whole lot better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

CV and\nemployability<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Showing a potential employer that you have used your spare\ntime to help others will always be admirable, and will demonstrate desirable\nqualities. It could just well be that one stand out experience that lands you\nyour graduate job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Learning new\nskills <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

With any volunteering project you will be learning and\nimproving skills all the time. Whether it be teamwork, communication, or\nproblem-solving, there are bound to be situations that arise that will push you\nout of your comfort zone and develop you as a person.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you would like to find out more, head over to the\nUniversity\u2019s volunteering page here: https:\/\/www.cardiffstudents.com\/jobs-skills\/volunteering\/projects\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Most students are blessed with having a pretty decent amount of free time. Although this can be spent making a bit of extra cash or chilling with mates, using your […]","protected":false},"author":1499,"featured_media":10776,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[713,743,714],"tags":[1188,1237,436,1238,622,518],"class_list":["post-12340","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cardiff-university-experiences-cy","category-global-opportunities-cy","category-student-life-cy","tag-cv-cy","tag-employablity-cy","tag-experience-cy","tag-student-experience-cy","tag-volunteer-cy","tag-volunteering-cy"],"meta_box":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/insiders\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12340","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/insiders\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/insiders\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/insiders\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1499"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/insiders\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12340"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/insiders\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12340\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12342,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/insiders\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12340\/revisions\/12342"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/insiders\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10776"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/insiders\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12340"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/insiders\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12340"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/insiders\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12340"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}