Posted on 04/03/2016
Over 100 students from Royal Holloway’s Community Action scheme helped out in a variety of community projects last week as part of annual Student Volunteering Week (22-26 February).
During the week, the Community Action Team took part in a range of projects including a Contact the Elderly tea party, nature conservation at the National Trust, a project to clean-up the River Thames and helping older people develop their IT skills.
The week also included Good Deed Day on Wednesday 24 February which saw students mentoring students at Strode’s College and encouraging them to get involved with helping the local community through various litter clearance and gardening projects.
Students Ivan Ptitsyn and Shreya Shrikhande created a VolunTREE, an interactive installation which has leaves attached to it in the form of messages of thanks from the community, photos of volunteers in action during the week and student responses to the question ‘Why Volunteer?’ The VolunTREE is on display outside the Community Action office in the Students’ Union.
A Partners’ Afternoon Tea, hosted by Vice Principal, Bob O’Keefe was held on 24 February and attended by charities which Community Action works with including, Cancer Research UK, Charters School, Egham Rotary Club, British Heart Foundation and Surrey Dolphins. The event was an opportunity for community partners to network and celebrate the Times Higher Education Award for ‘Outstanding Contribution to the Local Community’ which Royal Holloway received at the end of last year.
Phil Simcock, Community Action Volunteer Manager, said: “Royal Holloway students have showcased their community projects, hosted new charities on campus, and talked about why they volunteer during a successful Student Volunteering Week. It’s been great to see so many students getting involved in the local community this year. Well done to the students for raising the profile of volunteering to campus and beyond.”