Lauren Harrison

University: Durham
What are you studying? History

I volunteer on OXFAM GB's National Youth Board, advising them on how to make their campaigns relevant to students and young people and advising them on the best ways to attract students. As well as this national work I also enjoy volunteering in more normal ways – I led a community development expedition to Sri Lanka for 10 weeks in my first year and volunteer at Durham's Castle and Cathedral World Heritage Site.

I started volunteering at a really young age (13 with UNICEF), and I basically wanted to learn more about the world, get outside of my comfort zone a little bit and find out more about the lives of others. It really worked – I've travelled to Jamaica and Sri Lanka to volunteer as well as travelling the UK and making some friends for life. I spent 5 years before uni, being a 'Youth Adviser' to UNICEF, helping to advise them on how to be relevant to young people and how to attract them to support UNICEF. I also helped to lead a project for a charity called the Children's Rights Alliance for England, led by lots of young people that reported to the United Nations on the state of childrens' rights in England. I also did some local work, leading an Amnesty International group in my college and volunteering in my school.

I still like volunteering to meet new people, but now it provides some variety and fun to prevent me getting to focus on my degree. When things get stressful, there's always something there that's fulfilling and fun to do.
As well as some lifelong friends, getting to travel and some really cool opportunities, like working within major charities and reporting to the United Nations, volunteering has taught me so many skills. Working with people in teams in sometimes tense situations; the ability to communicate with all kinds of people from primary school children to government experts; the ability to go into an unfamiliar situation and get the best from it – the list really does go on and on!

I would like to think I have made a difference! I helped raise money to provide a primary school and teach there in Sri Lanka; I've helped lobby for policy change that has hopefully had some sort of effect in practice; I've helped to secure funding for volunteering programmes to ensure they can continue. Hopefully these things and others have helped to improve some people's lives, giving them opportunities they wouldn't otherwise have had or helping them out.

My volunteering has been challenging at times, for instance being in Sri Lanka for 10 weeks was really hard at times. As a project leader I was trying to look after a team of 15 people and being so far away from home. It was the people around you that were really important. You meet so many incredible people volunteering, and they really get you through the tough times. Once with UNICEF, an event we'd been planning for months almost fell through at the very last minute and through the sheer hard work of everyone in the team, we pulled it off! Another cool thing about volunteering is that you get to be a bit out-of-the-box in the way you think – you can solve problems in very unorthodox ways and if you try and fail, that's all a part of the process. It's very good for helping you to develop!

The most memorable part of my volunteering was getting to present to members of a UN committee! But I think sometimes the best moments are when you're tutoring someone and they finally understand, or when someone's really engaged in what you're doing – you feel like you've actually made a difference!

I definitely feel more employable– all the skills that graduate employers look for, like communication, teamwork, passion and dedication are used in volunteering. But perhaps more importantly, volunteering provides you with examples that you can give to employers to prove you have the skills, rather than just saying you have them – which seems to be something they really liked!

I would tell other potential volunteers to go for it! Check out all the things you're interested in, and make sure you find something that you really enjoy – volunteering at its best isn't a chore, it's something you can get really excited about.