Around February/March last year, I decided to take up the great opportunity of volunteering with Acting Up on Thursday afternoons. I had been wanting to volunteer for a while so when it came up as part of the criteria for participating in DofE, I was excited to engage in this new experience.
Before attending in my first session, I was unsure about what to expect and admittedly was slightly nervous about being on the other side of the acting experience, assisting to direct rather than participating. However, the moment it started I knew I’d been proven wrong. Everyone is a delight to spend time with and I thoroughly look forward to each week’s session. Whether we spend the time talking and playing games (especially the well-loved game corners) or preparing for the show they are performing in June, the room never fails to be full of laughter and smiles.
A typical session begins with a chat about our week or what we’ve done over the previous holiday followed up by warm up games to get everyone engaged. We are currently working towards staging two shows, “How the Whale got its Throat” and “How the Camel got its Hump”, which has proven to be an entertaining and enjoyable experience and I’m extremely excited for them to be performed.
About a month after starting to volunteer, I decided to quit bronze DofE as it really wasn’t for me. However the few sessions I had attended over the month had been such a good experience that I continued with Acting Up anyway and I’m still going now. Spending time with the young people on Thursdays has made me realise that I want to go into special needs education as a profession as it is so rewarding.
Volunteering is exceedingly worthwhile as not only does it look good on applications but it is also highly fulfilling. Volunteering at CYT has made the experience that much better as I’m helping out while doing something that I love. I would fully recommend volunteering to anyone who’s considering it, as a break from the stress of work or just for the pleasure.
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