Friday, October 30, 2009, and I’m panicking. I had no idea how I could possibly cram 3 workshops in by the 9th of November. I thought I had more time than that (at least the entire month of November), but that’s my fault for choosing to wait for the last minute. I had picked out the art gallery showing to go to on the 3rd of November, but that still left me with 2 workshops to go to: Community-Global Awareness and Student Life (why didn’t I go to the Club fair?). I went to the office of Student Life to figure out what I could do about this situation. After some thought, one of the women who ran the office suggested I volunteer to help out on November 4, at 10 am. Grateful for the opportunity to receive a stamp, I accepted.
I arrived promptly at the agreed-to time on the 4th of November, waiting for whatever task I would be assigned that day. After some thinking, it was suggested that I volunteer for the blood drive by signing people up. I accepted my job, volunteering 2 hours of my time. Those 2 hours were relatively uneventful. I racked up about 8-10 participants in those 2 hours, which in retrospect is respectable, but at the time felt inadequate compared to the firemen next booth. Maybe I should have been pushier?
At the end of my time, I was surprised to have received not one, but two stamps. I volunteered (fulfilling the Community-Global Awareness requirement) for the office of Student Life (fulfilling the Student Life requirement). 1 hour for each stamp? Whatever the justification, I was glad that I didn’t have to worry about failing Freshman seminar anymore.
-Richardson Antoine