"For me, volunteering within the college has been an amazing experience and an opportunity to help bring about change from within certain organisations. I started out with the student association, my lecturer told the class that they were looking for ambassadors so I sent out the application as it sounded like something that I could do, but it was also something I was happy to be a part of. Through the student association I managed to get on to the diversity and equality group, more commonly known as The Divers, and through my lecturer I am now starting out on a Bridge to Business student advisory group.

"Working in all these different groups has helped work on existing skills, such as communication, teamwork, problem solving and qualities such as confidence and patience. Hopefully as I improve myself, I can help to improve the college experience for all students from within the student association, which is my main volunteering commitment and definitely the busiest as we have just finished drafting up our strategic plan and are now figuring out how we implement it.

"The experience has been amazing so far, I used to not be as confident and self-assured as I am now, and while it can get busy at times and it can be a lot of work, I would say at the very least it has improved me as a person. I am feeling more optimistic about the future even through the uncertainty of the pandemic which is what I think will help me massively in the future as I try to break into marketing, finance or starting a business of my own. If anyone reading this is thinking of volunteering, I would highly recommend it as you can help others while you improve yourself, whether it be with the student association, litter picking or helping out at a food bank, everything you do can make a difference for someone."