Volunteer opportunities at SUNY Geneseo
The Office of Student Volunteerism and Community Engagement at SUNY Geneseo has been connecting students with volunteer organizations and opportunities for years, and they continue to direct students to ways to serve the community and connect with other students with similar interests.
As our community begins to emerge post-COVID, many students are finding it difficult to find ways to connect on campus after spending a year unable to interact with the majority of their peers face-to-face.
Despite the challenges that COVID has and continues to create obstacles for students, both practically and socially, the Office of Student Volunteerism and Community Engagement continues to host events, run programs, and provide information on various ways for students to volunteer.
Garth Freeman, the Director of the Center for Community, oversees the Office of Student Volunteerism and Community Engagement. He explained, “We are an office that supports students and volunteering and service in the community and on campus. We have resources that we can share as far as connecting students to outside organizations or agencies, whether that be for a long term, engagement with a volunteer [organization] and doing a project or just as a one time thing, both for individuals and for groups.”
“I'm also just a resource for students, but also for faculty and staff. So, I will push into classrooms sometimes. Times like a first-year seminar courses or senior seminar courses. [For] a First Year Seminar course, [we’ll say] ‘this is an opportunity, an office to get involved with… on campus.’ And then in upper-level courses, lots of times there is a community component to [those courses], like a capstone project or things like that.”
Sophie Wiktorko, a sophomore biology major, spends a lot of time volunteering for several organizations on and off campus. “I do quite a bit,” Wiktorko said.
Wiktorko is involved in the American Cancer Society (ACS), Relay For Life, the Home Away from Home Respite Program, Alpha Phi Omega, and a crisis texting line.
“I think in high school I didn’t volunteer that much. I was in the National Honors Society, and so we did an event like, twice a year. And so, it was kind of volunteering, but you know, it's almost like, mandated,” Wiktorko said.
One way Geneseo tries to connect students with volunteer opportunities in the community is the volunteer fair.
“The volunteer fairs are a really good way for people to come and see new opportunities,” said Wiktorko. “I go and they'd have stuff, and I'd be like, ‘Oh, I'll try to get there,’ and they send out emails. Garth [Freeman] usually forwards emails until I go direct and stuff.”
At the Geneseo Volunteer Fair, students can connect with organizations on and off campus that need volunteers. However, if students miss the volunteer fair, or don’t find anything that looks or sounds interesting to them, there are other ways to find opportunities.
“We do have a webpage online, which I'm working [on] with a student who's working with CIT to do some updating of that website,” Freeman said. “Most of my opportunities will have, you know, a short description, and then a sign-up form that's just a Google form.”
All volunteering events are posted on the events calendar, so any student interested in attending a volunteer event can access the events calendar and see what might be interesting to them. There is also an online software called Engage where students can answer a few questions about their interests and their capabilities and be matched to opportunities in the area.
Freeman explained, “Students can go on [Engage] either as an individual or as a group or representative of a group and submit a request for information. So, the student would tell me and the interns that work in the office, for example, ‘I have two hours a week. I like cats and dogs. I don't have a car and I'm hoping to get experience that will help me in my pursuit of my veterinary degree’ or whatever.”
“I think [the Office of Student Volunteerism and Community Engagement] offer enough like, opportunities and they do push out things, and even Garth [Freeman] in his office is now taking the advisory role for ACS on campus,” Wiktorko said.
Volunteerism does not just improve the community, but also improves the lives of students socially and professionally.
“We really talk about the kind of core competencies that students will need to succeed,” Freeman said. “Whether that be in grad school or going on, you know, straight into the workforce, you know, this idea of like applied or integrated learning, or experiential learning.”
“I mean, they do add to my resume,” Wiktorko said, “But you know, it's not really about that. But I guess it's just like making someone's day and helping you make a difference.”
“This is when students can really take the things they've learned in the classroom and take them out into the real world in real time and actually engage in that work,” Freeman said. “And ultimately, it's rewarding. I talk about services being reciprocal. It's about us serving with people.”
“I would say try to get involved in any way you can,” Wiktorko said. “I think even if you just find one thing you want to stick with, or maybe at this time, you only can do something here and there. Maybe just, you know, an event or two. I think it's important to get started somewhere.”
