This past summer, I had the pleasure of volunteering at the Summer Program for K-7 students in Shrewsbury. I assisted teachers by helping to plan and organize activities and by engaging with the students. It was a great opportunity for me to build relationships with the students and learn all about their own goals and interests. Over the two weeks I volunteered there, I had a lot of fun, and thought the kids did too.
Another opportunity in my community was at the Shrewsbury Public Library. I’ve always loved to read, so the opportunity to help out at my public library was a great environment to be a part of. During my volunteering time, I helped to provide recommendations, organize and stock shelves, and help prepare for events. Above all, I got to interact with people in my community of a variety of ages and backgrounds.
Image Source: https://shrewsburyma.gov/344/Library
One of the organizations I volunteer for is Proximity Massachusetts, which was started by one of my friends here at MAMS. The goal of the main organization is to increase youth participation in medicine and assist scientific endeavors in our community. To that end, we held two seminars over the summer to teach young, middle school age students about biology. Fortunately, it seemed that students had fun and were able to take away new information. We also held a fundraiser to help out Mass General Hospital. Overall, we were able to learn some of the logistic challenges behind hosting some of these events, and will certainly improve before our next endeavor. We are still a growing organization and hope to accomplish more in the future!
The second organization I occasionally assist is the Massachusetts Breast Cancer Coalition, or MBCC for short. The goal of the organization is to prevent the environmental causes of breast cancer through spending awareness and raising money for research. For the organization, I helped to film a commercial for a local news network to describe one of their summer fundraisers, the “Against the Tide” events. I wholeheartedly support the organization's goal, and hope to continue to volunteer there in the future. If you want to learn more, they have a website with more information.
Over the course of junior year, I completed over a dozen hours of volunteering for the Rising Stars Initiative, which is a tutoring organization run by Mass Academy seniors. The organization works with the Abbey Kelley Foster school in Worcester to assist elementary and middle school aged students with their homework and other assignments. As someone who has strongly benefited from teachers in the past, I wanted to give back to the community. Throughout the activity, I had the privilege of tutoring incredibly bright students who were filled with curiosity. Not only was I able to offer my services, I also found myself learning from the passion of my tutees.