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My Volunteer Story: Nameerah Hasan
Discovering a passion through volunteering

My passion for volunteering did not come overnight. It took a lot of experimenting, meeting new people and working with different demographics before I truly understood what it means to donate your time to helping others.

One of the first volunteer experiences I had was as an event volunteer for The Arthritis Society’s 5km Walk. I was delegated a variety of tasks, including registration, greetings, cheering participants on and clean-up. Being surrounded by so many motivated and friendly people made this experience incredibly fun for me, and encouraged me to continue volunteering through High School.

On my high school robotics team, we facilitate robotics and STEM workshops for children, while their parents are taking english or literacy classes next door. Our main focus is exposing newcomer youth to the vast opportunities available to them in the world of STEM, and we do this by creating an inclusive, visual-based curriculum to teach them. 

I’ve had the pleasure of dedicating my time to facilitating these workshops over the past few years and it has definitely been one of the most fulfilling experiences of my life. Working with 4-12 year old’s, while also dealing with language barriers, posed a challenge for me. I was forced to explore different methods of teaching and communicating, as for many of these kids, English isn't their first language.

What made this experience so amazing was the fact that I saw first-hand the impact I was having on these kids' lives. Throughout the duration of the 4-week long camp, I saw the kids grow as people, become comfortable working with their peers and become SO passionate about whatever project they were working on. Many of them had become motivated to go out and independently join a robotics team in their community afterwards. Seeing that by dedicating just 4 hours of my time every weekend to these kids has helped them explore their interests and make new friends in their new community, made this experience the most fulfilling volunteering experience I’ve had thus far.

Through volunteering, I’ve also discovered my own passion for teaching and helping others, as well as working with younger kids. I actively search out ways to continue to be involved with my community and working with underserved communities in the smallest of ways, because I now have the knowledge that I can make a much bigger impact on someone’s life.

Not only has volunteering helped me discover my passion, but it has expanded my network and paved my personal pathway for future careers. This summer, I’ve had the privilege of working as a community outreach assistant at Volunteer MBC, a job which I got almost strictly due to my vast range of volunteer experiences. By going out and meeting new people, you are continuing to add to your personal and professional network, and you never know who these connections can introduce you to in the future.

I truly believe that I will continue to volunteer my time to help others for the rest of my life. It creates a home away from home, introduces you to new opportunities and interests, and overall is just an enriching and fulfilling experience.

Nameerah Hasan
Nameerah Hasan was a summer student with Volunteer MBC