Jerome Lock-Wah-Hoon

University/ College: Royal Holloway University of London
What were you studying?: BSc Biomedical Science

As a student I did so much volunteering that it became me. I was a youth Boxing and motivator trainer. I have done various one off projects in the community including tending to an elderly woman's home, and painting schools and care homes.I  managed many pilot volunteer projects including bioblitz (a conservation project), and a Christmas parcel for the elderly and poor with AgeUK. I have done aid work in Sri Lanka, and teaching in Thailand.

I helped clean the local area, worked as a team leader for Royal Holloway Community Action, where I managed, organised and promoted volunteering on a big level. I helped organise and run an art exhibition worked alongside the BBC for their Bioblitz worldwide conferences event. There are many more that I can't remember!

I didn't have any initial reasons for starting to volunteer. It just happened. I was doing things I liked and was curious about. Volunteering is just the ´tag´ society has labelled it with. Even now it still just happens. Without overstating it, I've gained everything from volunteering. If I was not doing the things I like and I would say maybe half is through ´volunteering´, I would not be who I am now. I have come to understand many things about the world, people, and the way things work in society. I have made many friends through the projects and general encounters through my place in the volunteering community. It has made me a seriously unique and broad all rounded person, with experience that could be used in practically every career.

I have learnt through learning about the bads of the world, that you cannot change a person. You have no right to. You can only show them by honest effort. Many have said that the things that I have achieved inspire them. Many are now doing things that I have done, and by doing so they will develop themselves. It has been challenging, but I love it as it makes life worth living. I have overcome them by just carrying on. To not give up. If you do your bit all is good.

I would tell others to just do it. Just that, Do it. You have to feel and experience volunteering. Don't go in with the mind-set of "oh wow, I will try to volunteer". It then becomes a chore, you may like it but in your mind it is something you must do. Go in with the mind-set of doing things you love. Be that: sport - help disabled kids play sports. Art – go out and paint buildings! Nature – teach the young about science and not their console. Travelling – do some overseas volunteering (but do it independently). Do the things you love in life. Volunteering is just a way to do it all the time with added benefits.