Clara Sicard is a second-year undergraduate student from the Faculty of Life Sciences, studying Biodiversity and Conservation. She shares her experience of volunteering for the student-led Environmental Justice Project, which engages young students with issues related to climate change and environmental justice.
Even though life can be very busy as a student, you will be surprised that being involved in different projects than your studies will allow yourself to be more productive!
Tell us a little about your volunteering.
The Environmental Justice Project is an organisation led by UCL students, working with schools to educate children about environmental issues and justice. I joined in September last year as a video editor and have really enjoyed my experience so far as it combines my passion for making videos and the environment.
Even though my role is in video editing, I have been involved in many other things as well. The project partners with two schools to deliver talks and I helped to prepare and deliver one presentation. It covered food insecurity, sustainability and conservation of ecosystems, which I thoroughly enjoyed!
How did you find out about the role?
I found out about the role at the Volunteer Fair at the start of the academic year. There were different virtual stalls and we had an opportunity to chat with organisations and projects over Zoom.
The most important step in the process of becoming a volunteer is to simply sign up! The biggest step anyone can take is to get out there, be curious, engage and commit themselves. From there, the whole experience is pure fun and pleasure, its quite flexible and very rewarding!
Why did you want to become a volunteer?
I am very interested in climate change, sustainability and all such environmental issues and I really wanted to get involved rather than stay just passively interested. I wanted to be active in what I am passionate about.
Volunteering has been a great way to prove that I am interested in these topics, develop skills and meet people, which is very important when it comes to employability as well.
What impact has volunteering had on you?
Volunteering makes you feel part of something bigger and part of the action, which is motivating and rewarding. Even though life can be very busy as a student, you will be surprised that being involved in different projects than your studies will allow yourself to be more productive!
I get organised better and work more efficiently when I have different things to do. I volunteer for other projects and at the end of the day I feel that I have done so much! In turn, this has positively impacted my overall wellbeing.
What’s the best thing about volunteering?
Being a proactive part of a cause that is important and means something to me personally has definitely been the best thing.
It has also prepared me for other roles and bigger projects in the future. I am thinking of potentially becoming a sustainability ambassador next year.
Tell us about something memorable that’s happened to you whilst volunteering.
I didn’t expect to be giving out a presentation as part of my role and this turned out to be the most memorable part of my experience so far! Volunteering can bring you such surprises and new opportunities, which is great.
We try to make our presentations interactive - we play games, ask questions and show interesting images. It was fulfilling to see that students enjoyed it and were interested as it is a change from their traditional classes.
Would you recommend volunteering? If so, why?
I would definitely recommend volunteering as it can get you out of your comfort zone and you will only get positive things out of it! You will get new experiences, skills and become part of new networks. There are so many different volunteering opportunities at UCL so the only thing you have to do is find what you want and get involved!
Volunteering can bring you such surprises and new opportunities.
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