volunteer
work
volunteer work
Oceanic Global Steering Committee
I’ve just joined on as a part of Oceanic Global’s LA Hub Steering Committee member. This is still extremely new— as of August 2024, and I am looking forward to the impact that Oceanic Global will have on me as well as the world. As presented to me, much of my role as part of the Steering Committee will be oversee and host a plethora of events in regards to ocean conservation. Such may include fundraising events, educational outreach, and promotion of sustainable practices and so much more.
Smiley Library Adult Literacy Tutor
As an effort to be more involved in my neighborhood/ community, I had decided to start volunteering at the local library in Redlands, Smiley Library, as a tutor in the Adult Literacy Program. This program is set up for tutors to work one on one with adult learners in an effort to reach their literacy goals in reading and writing English. I have currently been volunteering for the past 6 months and it has been very heart-warming and exciting to see the progression of my adult learner partner as she’s come so far since our initial meeting. Much of my time is spent meeting with her on a weekly basis as well as formulating lesson plans ranging or encompassing everything from vocabulary recall, kinesthetic writing exercises, and plain old reading practice.
Yucaipa Animal Placement Social Media Coordinator
As part of my minor in Human-Animal Studies at the University of Redlands I had to volunteer time in service for a hands-on experience working with other animals. Typically, there is a course that we take and we travel to work in Utah but because of COVID-19 I was unable to take the course and had to work locally at the Yucaipa Animal Placement Shelter. This is a no-kill shelter that aligned with my values and through them I was able to play with dogs and cats all day whilst enhancing my photography and creative social media strategy skills. Through my volunteer work I was able to come up with Doggie Dating Profiles and Cat Chats, marketed as Hinge dating profiles, in an effort to “market” the animals at the shelter for adoption. I also lent my artistic skills to draw personalized pet portraits as an effort to fundraise for the shelter.
Alpha Phi Omega Community Fraternity
In my sophomore year of college I joined the co-ed National community service fraternity, Alpha Phi Omega. My freshman year was spent volunteering and sticking my toes in multiple organizations in a effort to volunteer in all types of communities but Alpha Phi Omega seemed like the right way to go in a effort to maximize my volunteer experience across multiple groups. We volunteered for a range of things from selling homemade reusable bags to fundraise for the Oak Glen Preserve to creating goodie bags to be distributed to the local homeless community. Whilst in APO I also served one semester as the frat Historian and was in charge of photographing and documenting the fraternity as well as event graphics and social media posts about events.
Mentorship Programs
Mentorship has always played an extremely big role in my life, both in the traditional and non-traditional sense. The saying goes, “it takes a village to raise a child,” and I believe my “village” to be my first mentors. However, it wasn’t until college where I was exposed to more formal parts of mentorship as a mentee and thus resulted in my appreciation for mentorship and the deep need to return the favor. While at the University of Redlands, I mentored in several programs including Students Together Empowering Peers (STEP), a program meant to pair first-year first-generation college students to older first-generation students as an effort to build community on campus, show new comers the ropes, and provide as a sounding board for the first-years hopes for their college experience. I also mentored in the CHAMPS program, a mentorship program at the UoR in collaboration with Redlands-local high school students with special needs, as well as TRAIN, which much like STEP was catered to first years who were not first-generation college students.
Youth for Youth LIVE! Guam
My first real volunteer experience outside of after-school programs or coastal cleanups was my time with Youth for Youth LIVE! Guam. I attended my first YFY conference during 8th grade and fell in love with the message of the organization and the way they went about education and doing outreach— it was fun! Youth for Youth is a youth-led non-profit that works towards preventing issues in the youth communities on the island including underage drinking, substance abuse, suicide, and more. As a YFY member you prepped all year long, doing outreach programs, fundraising events, and hosting team building events in an effort to plan for the big annual conference where youth across Guam and the Marianas are invited to attend. I was lucky to be involved with YFY for four years— as a conference attendee, a facilitator, the fundraising chair, and the Vice-President overseeing all the committees. YFY truly led to my love for community building and volunteer work.
