We all know that sometimes finding volunteer opportunities may seem a bit overwhelming as you may not know where to start. What I want to inform you on today are the many opportunities that are available to those of you who live in SFU Residence and Housing!

There are quite a few different areas that you can get involved in and one of those is the amazing SFU Residence Orientation Program! This program integrates the incoming students who have taken up residence in SFU’s on-campus housing to their new surroundings at SFU. 

During the nearly week-long Orientation program there are various information seminars about what to-do and not to-do on Residence as well as on campus, and these inform students of the very important services that the Residences have to offer. There are many planned-out day trips to places around the city such as the Vancouver Aquarium, Stanley Park, Lynn Canyon and Science World, where the awesome Residence Orientation Leaders take the new students to check out what their new city has to offer them! This program hires four SFU students as Team Leaders who are compensated with a stipend at their completion of the Orientation program, and who have the responsibility of holding interviews and hiring roughly thirty volunteers as Residence Orientation Leaders (the number varies year to year). 

I volunteered with this program as a Residence Orientation Leader (ROL) in my second year, and then as a Team Leader in my third year. Throughout this program I had some of the most amazing experiences of my life! As an ROL I met countless new friends, and had the opportunity to show new students what awesome things our school, and Vancouver itself, has to offer. Also, I pretty much laughed over the entire training period and throughout the whole week of guiding new students around the city! My experience only got better when I came back as a Team Leader in my third year. Not only did I get the chance to, again, meet countless new friends and create life-long memories, but I was able to expand my communication skills, gain more experience with organizing large scale events, and I learned a lot about being a true leader. 

This most rewarding part of it all was the fact that it gave me a chance to see the community that SFU Residence has to offer to those who become engaged in it, and I think that is important for people to know. The friends I made in this program are now my friends for life, and the skills I gained have helped me to get through the last two years of my time here at SFU and I know they will continue to help me as I move on to the ‘real world’ as we sometimes like to refer to life after University. I encourage you to check out the opportunities that SFU Residence and Housing has to offer those of you who are a part of our community!