During Week 5 of Winter Term (12-16 February), the LSE Volunteer Centre and Student Volunteering Ambassadors celebrated LSE Student Volunteering Week 2024, a nationally recognised week led by the Student Volunteering Network. During this time, universities and schools across the country organise opportunities or events to encourage their students to volunteer and help their local communities. At LSE, our goal was to celebrate the fantastic volunteering students do in their local and wider communities and create opportunities for LSE students to get involved in volunteering. To put on a proper celebration, a committee of LSE Student Volunteering Ambassadors organized multiple opportunities, including one-off volunteering, hosting representatives from the Horniman Museum, and talking about decolonising volunteering.
To reflect on the fantastic events that took place during Student Volunteering Week, we asked the Student Volunteering Ambassador committee to answer the following questions:
What was your favourite thing about being a project leader?
Madeleine: What I enjoyed the most was being able to take my passions and organise events around them to bring people with similar interests together. It was an incredible opportunity to explore areas I am interested in and create events that were learning opportunities for all involved. Being able to bring new people into campus to talk about exciting perspectives and opportunities within volunteering was a privilege to be a part of.
Sara: The thing I most enjoyed about being a SVW project leader is that I was able to collaborate with others and create a vision for SVW with the help and support of the Volunteer centre. I have enjoyed getting the freedom to design possible events and receive feedback to ensure the events are successful.
What advice would you give to the next team of Student Volunteering Week project leaders?
Madeleine: I would say to the next team to not be afraid to be bold! Think about what your ideal events would be to coordinate and reach out to people early to create these. The volunteer centre team are incredibly helpful, and charity partners are often just as excited to come into campus as you are! Start early, work as a team, plan effectively, and you will create a successful SVW.
Sara: My advice to future SVW project leaders is to communicate effectively with other members in the team in order to make your visions come to life; in this way, you will produce something you are proud of time whilst, enjoying the process of planning. I think that project leaders should be open to ideas and never write any off as every opportunity is worth investing in. I have learnt a lot from this experience and I hope others will learn too.
The Volunteer Centre is extremely grateful for the support from Student Volunteering Ambassador, students and other members of the community for helping us celebrate the amazing students who volunteer. Our Student Volunteering Coordinator,
Ali, extends her thanks to the SVW committee and reflections on the week:
“It has been an absolute pleasure to collaborate with our SVW project leaders to deliver the campaign this year! Their hard work and commitment at every stage of project planning has allowed us to take their passion for volunteering into the LSE community and offer such an impressive range of enjoyable, informative and impactful opportunities. Their creativity, skills and desire to give back all have made SVW possible, and I hope each of them are proud of the difference they have made.”
If you were inspired by Student Volunteering Week, it’s not too late to get your volunteering started! Check out one of our other ongoing opportunities or book a one-to-one with David Coles, the Volunteer Centre Manager if you have more questions. And why not follow us on Twitter, and Instagram to stay up-to-date with our events and opportunities and read our blog for more volunteering tips and stories.
