If you think students spend all their spare time avoiding studying, going out with their mates and having a good time then you'd be right. Well our student bloggers do anyway. While they assure us they don't slack on the study, they've got a lot to answer for when it comes to enjoying themselves while volunteering.

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Tuesday Aug 25, 2009

Ministry and Youth Work

Hey Everyone!

Just another quick update. I'm volunteering at the Deafness Resouce Centre, befriending a young perosn and will be undertaking a level 1 sign language course soon. In additon, I'm doing a German GCSE course and a Youth Work level 2 course besides my A Levels. It should be fun (and hopefully not too stressful) particularly as I willl be able to write to my pen pal in her language. Also, I will be doing church ministry and signing to the congregation at masses and services in the chapel on sundays.

That's all for now

Emma x

Posted by Emma ( 3:16 PM )
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Wednesday Aug 05, 2009

Lifetracks

The Lifetracks website, developed by the wonderful people at YouthNet is going to be for young people form the ages of 16 onwards giving them information on what they can do after they finish mainstream education i.e. GCSE's. It will feature the three main areas of work, training and study. At the moment, this website is currently in its very early stages and went live on the 24^th of June 2009 for all the members of Lifetracks and was introduced at the House of Commons, but as it's still in progress there's still a lot of online volunteering to be done here. I started off an online project member. I was just browsing do-it.org and looking for some virtual volunteering when I can across this.

The position sounded very important to me as I knew that I would be getting joint responsibility for managing a project. It included involved the group members in the layout of the website, the content, what prizes we should give to users of the website who have achieved their goals, how an article should be set out, what ways should a message be conveyed (e.g. podcast, interview, video, article), what kind of problems do you think there are with current websites about careers, work and study and what do young people really need to know before starting a new job or embarking on study.

You really felt that you were listened to ask the YouthNet members who were in charge of the discussions also commented on your ideas sometimes which showed that they valued your opinion. Even more, you go your own profile page which you could add cool stuff (I added a comic strip to mine!) and you could post your own blog. It involved a look of proofing and editing features of the 'website' as well as analysing and researching for what should go into this new website but the YouthNet team made it fun. So if you are looking for something useful to do in your spare time and are looking to gain some virtual skills and meet some new people, then sign up as either a project team member or even a photographer!

Posted by Rochelle ( 12:01 PM )
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A month down the line

I have now completed a month of my internship. Doing an internship with an MP has its similarities and differences when compared with volunteering. It is similar to volunteering as it is unpaid and I only get my travel expenses refunded. On the other hand, I am acknowledged as working on behalf of Lynne whereas the volunteers are not.

Those considered to be volunteers in the constituency office are those who just come to help with elections in the form of canvassing, delivering post and stuffing envelopes. They do not have to attend a formal interview whereas I did which is very necessary for the casework internship as you need to meet specific requirements which include a good standard of letter writing, good telephone manner and an inquisitive mind. Finally, when you are an intern, you are given much more responsibility than a volunteer and can liaise with constituents, council members and ministers. You are the MP's voice whereas the volunteers are not.

The internship has got more challenging as I am now dealing with phone calls as well as letters. Resolving an issue then involves writing a letter to a minister, social services, police or to the council. The most challenging are the immigration cases. I find it very hard to listen to the stories of people whose application has been rejected or who have not received an answer about their immigration status for several years and so are stuck in some sort of unfortunate limbo. Unfortunately, when an application to remain in this country has been rejected, it then becomes a legal issue should a constituent wish to challenge a decision.

Posted by Rochelle ( 11:57 AM )
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