Why College Students Are Choosing to Volunteer Abroad Together
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Over the last couple of decades, the number of college students opting to volunteer abroad has increased immensely, and most of them are choosing to embark on meaningful group volunteer trips. Whether it’s about working for a childcare program in India teaching English in Thailand, or lending a hand at wildlife conservation in South Africa, college students are now keen to look beyond their classroom lessons, to make a positive impact on the world.
In the last 17 years, Volunteering Solutions has hosted more than 25,000 people across the world, and most of them have been college and university students or gap year travelers, aiming to make a difference.
So, what exactly is the driving force, that’s pushing college students towards international volunteering? In this article, let’s take a quick look at the reasons to understand why college students are choosing to volunteer abroad together.
1. Building a sense of community while volunteering abroad
The academic schedule can be extremely overwhelming for college students, and they also need to give equal focus on personal growth. This often leaves students seeking deeper connections with their peers, and a group volunteering trip provides exactly that. Students get to bond over shared experiences, working together for a meaningful cause, overcoming challenges, and witnessing the positive impact of their efforts. These help in nurturing a sense of community, often leading to lifelong friendships.
For example, when a group of college or university students decide to volunteer abroad during their summer break, they have to plan it together, book a program that suits everyone, get their flight tickets, and then spend a week or two, living in a new country, working and traveling together. All these experiences nurture deeper bonds among the students and also boost their personal growth.
2. Overcoming challenges and enhancing personal growth
College students need to understand the value of being compassionate and empathetic toward the less privileged ones, and thus, when they work together for a meaningful cause, they immerse themselves in a learning experience that leads to personal growth as well (as we discussed earlier). An international volunteer trip will push them to step out of their comfort zones, making them face new challenges every day at the project site.
While volunteering as a group, students will collectively find solutions to the challenges and manage the logistics, to achieve their goal. This is an invaluable skill that nobody can develop in a conventional academic setting. While one person in the group might be good at time management, another can have better communication skills while the other might be a great team player. Together, they will have immense scope for peer learning as well as personal growth.
3. Creating a positive impact, TOGETHER
As an old proverb mentions, “Alone we can do a little, together we can do a lot” – this stands true for volunteering as well. While one person can only make a limited contribution, a group of students working together can always make a bigger impact. For example, when pre-med or medical students travel for a group mission trip abroad, they can organize healthcare camps, vaccination drives, etc.
Similarly, for environmental conservation programs, we have seen that college students’ groups have organized several awareness drives, carried out beach cleaning programs, etc., making a difference to the world at large.
When students volunteer as a group, they always motivate each other to push themselves, which maximises their efficiency and productivity, leading to creating a positive impact in a given period of time.
4. A great opportunity to build a network and boost CV/Resume
Last, but not the least, volunteering abroad as a group offers incredible networking opportunities to every student. When they travel abroad to volunteer, Volunteering Solutions usually places them with local organizations and NGOs focusing on the development of the underprivileged communities in that region. They usually work alongside professionals, gaining first-hand work experience.
We also provide a Certificate of Completion to every student who volunteers abroad with us. This not only adds brownie points to their CV/Resume, but also ensures their passion for working for a meaningful cause, increasing the potential to get noticed by future employers.
Over the last decade, Volunteering Solutions has hosted several college and university student groups, including volunteers from: Georgia Tech University, USA; Leeds University, UK; University of Bristol, UK, Trinity College, Ireland; IMEPAC Centro Universitario, Brazil; University of Wisconsin, AMSA; Florida International University; Carnegie Mellon University, Qatar, and more.
If you are a college student who’s keen to volunteer abroad with your peers, or a teacher/professor planning to send your students on a group mission trip, write to us at [email protected] and our Program Advisors will connect with you.
Also, follow us on Instagram to know more about what our volunteers are upto, and connect with our past volunteers to learn about their experiences.
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