Carl is a 4th Year Medical student. He is a Project Leader with the MEDucate project, at primary schools around central London.
How often do you volunteer, and for long?
Once every one or two weeks, for an hour or two. I put in a couple more hours in this time, as a project leader, with administrative work.
What do you do as a volunteer?
We visit primary school classes and run interactive workshops with the children to teach them about human biology and health. There are usually around 6 or 7 volunteers and each works with a small group of children at a series of ‘stations’, on topics such as human organs, the heart or bones, using models and pictures as teaching aids. As volunteers we try to engage the children with the topic as much as possible, asking them lots of questions and encouraging them to try to think about how the body works.
What were your first impressions when you started volunteering?
I really enjoyed it! The first workshop was a little scary, as I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect. However, as soon as we started the session, the other volunteers and myself settled into things very quickly. The session was great fun and it was fantastic to see how quickly the children got involved and how keen they were to learn and play with the models!
How do you feel about it now?
I feel a lot more confident going into the volunteering sessions now, both as a volunteer and as a project leader. The children are great fun to work with and I do get a real buzz from seeing how their knowledge improves over the course of the hour. I’m really looking forward to volunteering at more sessions in the near future.
What’s the best thing about volunteering?
The sense that you are making a difference to the people that you work with. To come away from an hour’s volunteering knowing that the children have learnt something and enjoyed themselves at the same time, and to have had fun yourself too, is incredibly satisfying.
And what’s the most challenging thing?
The children themselves are probably what makes the work most challenging. Sometimes that’s because they are a bit ‘excitable’ and keeping things under control can be tough. But often it’s because they are so curious, as they approach each subject with a completely different perspective, that they are challenging to work with. But that, in itself, is part of what makes volunteering with children so enjoyable.
How has volunteering changed you?
Volunteering with MEDucate has improved my confidence in terms of managing and organising people, as well as in working with children. I’ve met a whole team of bright, enthusiastic students who are keen to offer their time for a good cause, and made good friends along the way. I feel as though I have achieved something very worthwhile in my time with MEDucate.
What difference do you feel you’ve made by volunteering?
We’ve taught children about health matters and human biology, and hopefully opened their eyes a bit more to how the body works. I hope that in at least a few, we will have succeeded in fostering an interest in something that we (as medical students in the majority) ourselves find fascinating. The feedback from the schools that we’ve visited tell us that the children really enjoy the workshops too, which is an achievement in itself!
Would you recommend the project to anyone else? If so, why?
I’d recommend volunteering with MEDucate to any student who wanted to work with children. It can be very demanding, but that only makes the volunteering experience more rewarding. Volunteering helps to improve your personal skills, allows you to meet new and like-minded people, and provides a useful service that really makes a difference.
