The Benefit of Volunteering
On set at Rogers TV, discussing Student Unity Project with Denise Marek on the show Daytime Durham (from L to R: founder Janis Griffin, Vanessa, myself, and Denise)
I was initially hired onto Student Unity Project (“SUP”) team — a registered charity devoted to changing school environments and off-setting the damage that can be caused by exclusion and hostility when you walk the halls of your school alone — before the organization became a registered charity. After my summer student contract ended the first summer I was with them, I decided to stay on as a volunteer not only because of how important the charity was to me, but also the people who run it. SUP hires and trains high school students to mentor, support and be a friend, to other high school students who are being bullied. As someone who had been bullied in elementary school (you can read about that on the SUP blog by clicking here), I understand the importance of preventing this from happening, or at least alleviating the burden of being bullied wherever possible. I’ve finally found my permanent volunteer position of choice and I could not be any happier than I am with SUP.
