"The new communication and inter-personal skills we have are something you can really take forward to other volunteering opportunities and even careers as well."

Could you tell us about the Share x UCL MasterChef event you all took part in?

Elias: We all went for the Share x UCL MasterChef event. It was an event organised by Share to help the students there and to have a nice day together.

Megan: I was really intrigued by the fact it was called MasterChef Challenge because I’m not very good at baking, but I thought that it would be fun to try it out! It was really nice, and we also had the opportunity to learn more about what Share does. Also, if we wanted to become a longer-term volunteer in the future, they told us how we could do that.

Tianyi: I would say that the process was quite nice and the staff at Share Community was super helpful and very kind. The day was much better than any of my expectations. It was a real pleasure to be able to volunteer with them.

Do you think you would like to take part in more volunteering after this experience?

Elias: I would love to do some casual volunteering. I saw some other opportunities with Share and was considering taking part. There is one position where we can volunteer once a month, and hang out with one student for between 4-6 hours (Social Buddy Volunteer). That seems pretty interesting!

Megan: Last year I didn’t know about the one-off sessions, so I thought that if you signed up to volunteering you had to do regular stuff, and I was worried about committing the time. Now I know that there are one-off things as well, I will definitely look into more of them.

Tianyi: I would like to do volunteer regularly but the problem for me is that I live quite far from their site. If it was long-term then I would worry about whether I can be there regularly, so one-off volunteering was a really good opportunity. I will definitely try out more volunteering opportunities that are once or twice a month. I will probably consider more volunteering related to teaching

What was the most memorable part of your volunteering experience?

Elias: My student was new in Share so he was a bit shy at the beginning. I still remember at the end when we made the cookies, he was really proud and smiley. Even the staff were really happy about that, so that was a great memory.

Megan: When we were making the cookies, me and my partner student, Claire, were having a really good time. She was kind of bossing me around, but in a really funny way. Then at the end we took a picture together with our cookies. I felt super proud of that.

Tianyi: My student was not very talkative, but he was really nice and very serious about the things he was doing. When he cut out the pictures from the magazine he was really, really careful. After the event, the feedback was also very touching, because the staff at Share Community sent us an email with the follow up and with pictures, so I was very touched.

Would you recommend volunteering to other students after this experience?

Elias: Yeah, I definitely do. I know that as a first year I was a bit scared, because when I went to the UCL Volunteering event at the beginning of the year, I saw lots of stuff that required a lot of involvement, like teaching students. I was a bit scared about not being able to manage my timetable. But some casual events like this one are great to learn more about volunteering and what people need. I think that they would be a really interesting opportunity for anyone because it just takes an afternoon.

Megan: I think that the process was super easy as well. Signing up through the Students’ Union and also getting in touch with Share through the website was really easy. I was a bit worried at first about how organisation was going to go, but it was super easy to get there and the time was easy to manage.

These events that are not long-term commitments are good for people who are worried about time. I think that the experience is also something that you can really build upon. The new communication and inter-personal skills we have are something you can really take forward to other volunteering opportunities and even careers as well. It’s a great experience to talk about in any kind of interview, and a really interesting thing to have in your profile as well.

Tianyi: One-off volunteering is a really good opportunity, and also a way to try out different things for different volunteering roles. You can explore which areas interest you. I was also just talking to my friends about the volunteering experience, because we do Psychology with Education, so obviously this experience was kind of related to what we do. Also, it was a chance to meet fellow UCL students, which was really nice as well. So definitely recommend this experience to my fellow students.

Were there any challenges that you encountered on the day?

Elias: I was a bit worried at the beginning that working with another student from Share might be like us managing them or being teachers or something, but actually it was much more like being mates.

Megan: I liked how we got a small training at the beginning, because I was a bit worried about making sure I was doing things right as a volunteer. But we got a really helpful training session, just letting us know how to communicate with the students and the other volunteers, and how to make the most of the day. And then at the end of the day we got to take all the cakes home, which was super nice!

Tianyi: At first I was worried because I only knew a little but about the event, and I didn’t really have experience with people with learning disabilities. But the training that we got was all very helpful. By the end of the day, I suddenly realised that I don’t feel any difference between us and the Share students. It had disappeared. You mingled with everyone together, so it was a very nice and surprising experience.

Thank you so much to Elias, Megan, and Tianyi for sharing their experiences volunteering with Share Community. If you would like to get involved in the work that Share Community does, they have many regular and one-off volunteering roles available. Check out their regular volunteering roles such as a Social Buddy Volunteer, Horticulture Volunteer, or Digital Skills Volunteer.

A full list of Share Community’s opportunities can be found here!

If you are interested in finding out more about One-Off Volunteering, make sure to have a look at all of the opportunities available in our Volunteering Directory, and use the filters available to find the perfect volunteering opportunities for you!