Student Volunteer Week 2022: Takoha – give; Whakatipu – grow; Tūhono – connect.

Student Volunteer Week 2022 (SVW2022) runs from April 4th till April 10th. Celebrating SVW2022 is an opportunity to acknowledge the impact that student volunteers make through volunteering.

SVW2022 is also an opportunity to enable students to try volunteering!

There are thousands of high-school and university students who give, grow, and connect through volunteering. This contribution has a major impact on communities and causes, on both the national and international stage.

There are incredible young people involved in volunteering through initiatives such as The William Pike Challenge, Duke of Edinburgh Award, Mount Aspiring College's Students in the Community and the many activities arranged through dedicated school service committee volunteers.

Kaitūao o te Taitonga | Volunteer South is passionate about enabling young people to connect with their community through volunteering and will be focusing on enabling more young people to volunteer this year.

“We had the pleasure of working with Dunstan High School and Mount Aspiring College last year, connecting over 100 students to their community through volunteering on teacher only days and are looking forward to re-establishing this work when the risk of COVID allows.”

“Wakatipu High School is also keen to offer volunteering on teacher only days, alongside their website ‘Give Time’ that was set up in 2020 with the aim of easily connecting students to organisations in the area.” Volunteer South’s Gillian White says.

Volunteer South is also part of a national youth focus group within the Volunteer Centre Network Aotearoa, which is working to reach deeper into their communities to support youth volunteering and to encourage organisations to offer the flexibility often needed by our youngest volunteers.

In Dunedin, Volunteer South and the University’s Social Impact Studio, which supports student-driven change through volunteering and leadership, share volunteer opportunities to ensure organisations seeking volunteers reach the widest potential volunteer audience.

“Young volunteers bring so much to the organisations they support, a fresh energy, passion and many new skills and ideas. We will be working hard in the upcoming year to highlight the benefits to organisations of opening their doors to young people. There are young people keen to volunteer - so we will be focusing on supporting them to become active volunteers.” Gillian says.

Give.Grow.Connect. is the theme of SVW2022 and the nationwide campaign is being driven by Volunteering New Zealand. Student volunteers give a hand and add value to the community. By giving to a community or cause, student volunteers grow and flourish. They gain knowledge, experience, and create change within their communities. Through volunteering, mahi aroha and social impact, student volunteers create their own social and professional networks. They connect with peers and people who share their same passion and interests.

Kaitūao o te Taitonga | Volunteer South is a charitable trust that engages and supports both tūao volunteers and volunteers involving organisations and community groups in the Southern region of Aotearoa New Zealand.

The University of Otago’s Social Impact Studio channels student creativity, vision and insight for maximum social impact.