Registration volunteer by Brianna

Registration volunteer by Brianna - December 2013 Scholarship Essay

When I was in high school, I was a volunteer that helped one of teachers with back-to-school registration.

The teacher had us make signs that directed everyone where to go. After the signs were posted, we had to walk through the building to make sure that each sign was placed in a good location that made sense and correctly directed people to where registration was.

The teacher explained that we as students knew the building, but to a freshman or transferring student that was new to the school, they may not be aware of where things are located. We noticed that we had labeled the signs as returning students and not new students. Some of the signs had to be taken down and corrected. We had used phrases like turn right at Mr. B’s classroom. If you were new to the school, you would not know who Mr. B was or where his classroom was. We changed the signs to state turn right at classroom #103. This is what the teacher meant by making sure the signs made sense.

Doing this day of volunteering, helped me better understand obstacles that new students may have. The registration volunteers mingled amongst the crowd registering just to make sure that anyone who looked confused, we stepped up to answer any and all of their questions. If we were unable to answer a questions we walked with them and introduced them to a staff member that could answer their questions.

This experience taught me to remember what it was like being a high-school freshman. I also remembered the awesome feeling of now attending a school that had wings on it and how overwhelming I felt. I was able to slow down and take my time with the new students and be able to feel and show empathy towards them. By doing this their first day on campus they along with us volunteers were able to have a good registration day.