Joshua Wilks
Published: August 23 2004
For someone who thinks the only way to volunteer in his or her community is working in a soup kitchen, Emily Mahood could prove otherwise.
Mahood, the new volunteer coordinator and activities specialist at PJC, is working carefully to link students to volunteer opportunities that suit their interests and career goals.
“We can find a service opportunity that would pertain to almost any major we have at PJC,” Mahood said. “We have anything from very hands-on medical volunteer work to planting sea oats and beach cleanups.”
Although her position is new to the college, volunteer work isn’t. Modeled from the volunteer program at the University of West Florida, PJC documented more than 8,000 hours of volunteer work last year, Mahood said.
When students volunteer, they fill out a volunteer log to document how much time was spent volunteering and then it is kept on file at PJC.
“We want it to be mutually beneficial between the volunteer and the agency,” Mahood said. “And having a record of service that is documented somewhere can help getting into colleges, into graduate schools, and eventually getting a job.”
Often times, Mahood said, a student will graduate from college with no work experience, but if that student has a record of volunteer work to show the employer, it can often be just as valuable. Another advantage, Mahood said, is that volunteer work may often lead to meeting people that will prove beneficial in landing a job after graduation.
Mahood, a graduate of PJC and Florida State University, said that volunteering could very well be life changing. Her experiences in volunteer work while she was in college motivated her to pursue a career in social work. “I probably would not have figured out what I wanted to do if I hadn’t served,” Mahood said.
Mahood said that volunteering can help students learn things about their self and their abilities, and what they want to do in life — things they probably never would have known before.
“She’s really got a good grasp on what (the volunteer program) is supposed to be, and has done a lot of research on what other colleges in the state are doing,” Dennis Reynolds, coordinator of student leadership and activities at PJC said. “I really hope to see it expand from what it was.”
“I look forward to the program individualizing volunteer opportunities for the different departments on campus, and taking it to the next level, seeing more faculty and staff getting involved,” Reynolds said.
For more information on volunteer opportunities, call Mahood at 484-1518, or go to the Student Leadership and Activities office in the Student Center, building 5.