Hi! Meet Eleanor Wong – the Volunteer Engagement Assistant Here at the SFU Surrey – TD CEC

With the SFU Surrey – TD Community Engagement Centre constantly growing, there are ones who join hands on the back end of things to make it happen, which Eleanor Wong is one of them!

We’re excited to introduce you to the Eleanor Wong, the Volunteer Engagement Assistant who supports with the process of onboarding our SFU volunteers. Eleanor has been with the Office of Engagement for the past year and she’s the one that connects with the SFU students that are interested in volunteering first-hand. As a 5^th year student in Health Sciences here at SFU herself, she’s been able to share a bit with us of why she’s in the role as a Volunteer Engagement Assistant. We had the wonderful opportunity to sit down and connect with her outside of her busy school and work schedule on what her journey in this role has been like. So for those of you interested in working and/ or volunteering with us here at the SFU Surrey – TD CEC, continue to read this post from Eleanor!

From Eleanor:

A bit about myself – I’m a 5^th year student majoring in Health Sciences. My role here at the SFU Surrey – TD CEC is working as a Volunteer Engagement Assistant. The responsibility of that role is to oversee a lot of the logistical and people side of things. That can be from overseeing volunteer applications, to making sure the volunteers are applying for the opportunities they want, the communication between the volunteers and the programs, making sure they are on track with deadlines, answering inquiries from students, finding out what the interests and strengths are for the students, providing feedback to students, providing recommendations for programs and so forth.

Ever since high school, I really enjoyed working with volunteers and connecting with them on a personal level. Being able to see their growth and be a part of their journey, it’s all rewarding. You see the amount of effort each volunteer gives and there’s just so much of themselves that they give towards the community. I’d like to think that the Office of Engagement is a really vibrant place for everyone, that goes for both staff and volunteers. During my time working in this role, I learned a lot from both my peers and my volunteers. I often encounter students from the PDP program often and they share a lot of knowledge with me. To be quite honest, there is a really diverse group of students that apply for these volunteer positions, whether they be in Sciences, Engineering, Business, Arts, and so forth. Despite the different backgrounds these students may have from one another, the end goal for all of them is to influence the youth in a positive manner. They’re always filled with smiles and at the end of each program, it really is a rewarding experience. On top of that, the part that warms my heart the most is how often I hear students say that they don’t want to leave because of how much growth and development they see within each youth. There’s not one volunteer that joins the team and has a passion on wanting to create a positive impact on the community.

If I could emphasize one thing for SFU students, that would be to VOLUNTEER! It’s a great opportunity to give back to the community, everything is set up for you, and all you have to do is contribute an hour or two of your time every week. This is a really smooth and easy-going process to create a good impact for the people and community around you. You connect with new people that are like-minded with you and volunteering is for ANYONE! The most important thing is to want to be there and be open to learning. You just never know until you try! Just like it was for me, I was unsure but thought I would give it a try, and this is where I’m at now! Give it your best shot and come volunteer.