SHANEETA KARAPAN

1. What made you decide to become a volunteer? And why specifically at SoSD?

My sister volunteered at SOSD on a weekday slot. When she switched over to Saturday’s, she asked me to join her so I thought, why not? I hesitated initially, worrying about if I would be able to commit to it given my demanding school schedule but since I was going with my sister even if I was tired, she could just motivate me to go.

2. What were your expectations before joining SoSD, in terms of your duties and responsibilities? Has the actual experience differed from these expectations, and how so?

My expectations of being a volunteer with SOSD were pretty much the same as the reality since I had my sister’s experience as a reference point. I also expected that there would be some sort of learning curve with all the new information we were absorbing at a fast pace but it definitely did take longer than I was anticipating to really get a good handle on things and to be confident with the volunteer responsibility on my own. Perhaps one more thing I didn’t really expect was the strong sense of camaraderie amongst the volunteers, everyone was so welcoming, eager to help and learn from each other, which made me so grateful to be part of the team.

3. How difficult has it been to incorporate volunteering into your lives, on top of your other commitments (school/work/etc.)?

It wasn’t too difficult to balance my school life and regularly volunteering with SOSD once a week. Since I knew beforehand that I wanted to go every week, I made sure to block out that time when planning my schedule unless I had no other choice because of an event. I also made sure not to stay out too late the night before so as to make sure I was well rested and to complete all assignments prior to Saturday so I wouldn’t need to rush anything.