YORK IS U “GET INVOLVED” VOLUNTEER ORIENTATION RECAP

Hello hello hello to all my fellow Yorkers!

I am loving the amazing energy currently available here at York University. September is probably one of my favourite months because it has some of the most notable events of the year: York Fest, Orientation Week, The Terry Fox Run The Great Canadian Hair Do and Festival Village! I am here to tell you all about one of the things closest to my heart (yeah I’m pretty cheesy, but only for this student-led organization): York is U

On Thursday September 19th we had a York is U “Get Involved” Volunteer Orientation where we discussed what York is U is, how you can get involved and future opportunities up ahead! If you missed the orientation or completely forgot everything from the orientation, no worries! That is the exact purpose of this blog post!

Ok so for starters, what is York is U & What Do We Do?

York is U is a student-led organization under Student Community & Leadership Development (SCLD) which provides volunteer and leadership opportunities to the York U community through planning york-wide events. Some key events for the school year are: Red & White Day Part One, Red & White Day Part Two, York’s 55th Birthday and Winter Orientation.

Wait, what the heck is Student Community & Leadership Development?

Student Community & Leadership Development are really focused on enriching and improving the student life at York. Their located at South Ross 172 and some compartments which lie under the SC&LD (not including York is U) are:

• RED Zone – Troubleshooters all-wise knowing oracles of the ways of the York
• Health Ed – Keeping you informed, healthy & awesome
• YU lead – Develop your leadership super powers
• Student Community Peer Mentors – introduce you to various clubs and help your club run events
• Res Life – provides awesome opportunities to get involved right here on campus in your residence

How do You Get Involved? 

As a Volunteer

There are plenty of opportunities to get involved with York is U! A great first step to take is to complete our get involved form which can be found under our York is U website or by clicking this link: http://yorkisu.ca/volunteer-get-connected/. Just complete the form and choose the events you would be interested in getting involved with! It’s THAT easy!

As a volunteer, it’s important to note that there is no time requirement! You can volunteer for as short as 30 minutes to as long as five hours, it’s completely up to you! There are also no general pre-requisites to getting involved with us, our goal is to make it as easy as possible for you to become engaged.

As a Coordinator 

If you’re up for a bigger leadership role, apply to be a coordinator for one of our events. As a coordinator you would be getting knee-deep in planning our major events and will be gaining some valuable leadership skills! Coordinator postings will be available on our Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/pages/York-is-U/156311332220), our Twitter (https://twitter.com/yorkisu), YUConnect (http://yuconnect.yorku.ca/) and our general website (www.yorkisu.ca)

YUConnect

YUConnect can be seen as the hub for anything and everything extra-curricular! York is U primarily uses YUConnect to approve service hours, promote events, post coordinator/volunteer opportunities and much more! If you haven’t gone on YUConnect yet make sure you do so at (http://yuconnect.yorku.ca/). Once you’re there, join York is U to keep up to date with our events!

Service Hours: When you volunteer for us or attend our meet and greets, you will get hours which you can put on your co-curricular record! To find out more about YUConnect check out fellow RSA Chris’ blog on all you need to know about YUConnect here: http://thenewyorkerblog.wordpress.com/2013/06/11/yu-connect-the-hub-for-everything-extra-curricular/

So what am I getting in return for all my hard work?!

The benefits of becoming involved with York is U are plenty and are numerous!

– Free Swag: as a volunteer you instantly get a York is U volunteer shirt! There are also many other things we give out to committed volunteers such as USBs’, Highlighters, Pens, Scarves and much more!

– Co-curricular record: your filling up your co-curricular record which is a very important piece of document! Most jobs on campus require you to give your co-curricular record in and not your resume, so it’s important to have some involvement! It’s also a great tool for applying to graduate schools and finding a job after your undergraduate career

– Meeting new people: During my time at York is U I have met so many new people from various programs! Some of my closest friends were met through York is U!

What are the next steps? 

Our next volunteer opportunity is as soon as this Monday September 23rd 2013 from 4:00 PM-6:00 PM!  Meet at 4:00 PM at Michael Angelo’s (which is in the basement of the Atkinson building) for a free pizza lunch and information on how you can become an ambassador for the Good Neighbours Guide! Find more information here: http://www.yorku.ca/scld/pdf/GoodNeighbours.pdf

** If you’re interested in this opportunity, please fill out the form here and check mark the box Good Neighbour Sept 23 at 4:00 PM! Please also wear your York is U shirt or other York U related swag!

Where do I go if I got questions!

Online: Talk to us on our gazillion social media platforms! We are friendly!!

Physical: Stop by our office at South Ross 172 anytime or come to the kiosk at Vari Hall (all the ambassadors have kiosk hours where we promote our York is U swag!)