Volunteer Experience

Credo Christian Elementary School Teacher Assistant

March 2020
In this volunteer experience, I spent 25 hours in a Grade 4 class. During the class I took time to observe the teacher’s strategies and the timeline of the day, help students accomplish activities, work one on one with students for reading, and being involved in lunch time supervision duty. This was my first time in an elementary classroom and it changed the way I approached students. Previously, I spent more of my in school volunteer experience in a High School, so I had to take a more gentle approach for the younger kids.

January-April 2020
In this volunteer experience, I shadowed a number of High School instructors in Physical Education 8-10, Socials 8, and History 12. I learned that classroom environments are so differently constructed from teacher to teacher. For example, in the PHE classrooms, each instructor ran their class differently; one instructor was very dictator-like, another let the students run free, where another was very involved like he were another student in the class, but he still had respect. After observing all the different teachers, their methods, and their classroom environments, I started thinking about my ideal class and strategies. Also I realized, that not any class is the same and that strategies might need to change based on they type of class I receive.

This volunteer experience was put on by the University of the Fraser Valley. It involved children working on developing their fundamental movement skills of running, jumping, throwing, hopping, skipping and catching. They practiced these skills through fun and co-operative games-based programming, as well as arts, crafts and an educational session. It was my goal to ignite the kids’ passion for physical activity for life. What I liked about this experience, was seeing the diverse set of kids in the gym. There were many children with varying abilities and ethnic backgrounds. This was probably the first time I practiced being an inclusive educator. This practice involved differentiating activities for students with different abilities.

This volunteer experience is probably my favorite opportunity. This is because my love for sport and love for teaching really came together. Many people say, a good coach is not a good teacher, but I disagree. I found I was able to practice class management and behavioral management with coaching, but also be able to create and build relationships with the teens. Being a coach, is not just aiding the players on how to build on sport skills and win matches, it is helping and aiding the whole-player. This means that I am not just coaching the players physically, but mentally and emotionally.
- January-April 2016
- January-April 2017
- January-April 2018

This camp invites young people (aged 8 – 16) who face troubles, pressure and temptations to a week-long place of rest on our mountainside property in Deroche BC, where they can be awed by God as He is revealed through nature, through the Bible and through relationships with other campers. The camp’s main guiding goal is that decisions, attitudes and behaviors are always: Gospel-Saturated, Joy-Filled and Safety-Focused; to keep things simple they say Holy, Happy and Healthy. This camp taught me kills in communication and relationship building with kids. I strove to provide children with a safe, exciting camp experience, filled with great activities and adventures. The first year I was a camp counselor, I had a cabin pack of eight Grade 3 girls, but I really enjoyed my second experience with a cabin pack of six Grade 7 girls. This is because I was able to support the mental health and anxiety of the campers, as they were stressed and worried about entering High School in the next month.
- August 2016
- August 2019