Tuesday 06-02-2018 - 16:34

The Student Volunteering Week (SVW) blog aims to showcase a diverse range of perspectives on the annual campaign and on volunteering and social action in general.

With students and staff at over 100 colleges and universities planning to take part in SVW 2018, we're always on the lookout for people who have a story to tell, insight to share, a challenge for our readers, exciting volunteering opportunities, or simply want to tell us what student volunteering means to them.

Rules of the blog

We don't really like rules, but we do like engaging blog posts. So here's our advice…

• Keep your post to 600 words max
• Submit your blog to info@studentvolunteeringweek.org
• Send it to us in plain text format (a Word Doc or Google Doc)
• Please also attach at least 2 photos (or videos!) to accompany your blog and a photo of yourself or your organisation's logo
• We'll also need your full name, the college/university you attend or organisation you work for, and a short bio (25 words max)

"But I've got nothing to write about!"

Nonsense! The options for blog topics are endless, just like the social action opportunities out there. If you're really struggling for inspiration, perhaps you could think about your answers to one or more of these questions…

• Our big theme for 2018 is Student Civic Engagement - this should focus on one of these three areas:
  • Improving student wellbeing
  • Develops students' employability
  • Contributes positively to civic life on and off campus
• If you took part in SVW last year, you could share your top 5 moments from the week, your biggest challenge and how you overcame it, an unexpected lesson, what you're doing to create long-term impact on your campus, your recommendations for SVW 2017, a recap of some of your events, talk about SVW from a volunteer's perspective, and so many other things!
• What is the value of volunteering in your opinion?
• Why do you or did you volunteer?
• Tell us about some of the projects you've been involved with
• What have you gained from volunteering?
• What do you think the impact of student volunteering is in the local community?
• Do you work with student volunteers? What do they bring that is unique?
• Are you an employer? What do you look for in potential employees? Does volunteering experience count on job applications?
• How can you continue social action in your career?
• What cause does your charity or social enterprise tackle? What opportunities are there for students to get involved?