5 Proven Benefits from Volunteering with Junior Achievement

Summary:
I’ve gained 5 benefits from volunteering with Junior Achievement. I’ve become a more engaging facilitator, I’m better at motivating teenagers, and I feel good about helping kids.




I began volunteering this summer with Junior Achievement. My only regret is that I didn’t start sooner! As I’m sure you can relate, I felt I was too busy.

I finally reached the point where I had talked so much about volunteering someday, that I decided that if I don’t start now, I’ll still be talking about getting around to it when I’m 132.

You can gain 5 benefits from volunteering.

This article explains how I’ve gained these 5 benefits from volunteering with Junior Achievement (JA):

1. Support Your Values.
2. Help Your Community.
3. Enhance Your Self-Esteem.
4. Gain Understanding.
5. Develop Personally.




1. Support Your Values

I value being a leader, a role model, and a mentor.

JA provides me with a platform to facilitate programs with young people, allowing me to excite and instruct them to engage the world of business. The working world is tough; it can feel remote and confusing to kids.

JA gives me the opportunity — such as through facilitating the Dream Big program — to help teenagers in the following ways:

• Get inspired with lessons from their own role models.
• Get motivated and prepared for their first part-time and volunteer job.
• Explore their dream career job.
• Choose values that support their dreams.
• Decide the skills and knowledge they want to obtain to reach their dreams.
• To learn how to find and communicate with mentors who can help them overcome obstacles.

I am grateful to my mentors who help me pursue my dreams. I value reciprocating the favor by being a mentor myself, through my involvement with JA.

It’s important to provide young people with experiential business programs that can imbue them with the confidence and skills that they need to become the leaders of tomorrow. It means a lot to me to provide young people with some of the most important and inspiring programs on work readiness, entrepreneurship, and financial literacy.

These programs can literally, in a few hours, change the course of a student’s life!




2. Help Your Community

In the video at the end of this article, I was struck by the man who said,

We all care about our community. Volunteers care. They don’t care more. They just do something about it.

Many people who don’t volunteer are nonetheless benefactors to their communities. My mom owned and managed a business for 15 years, employing about 10 people at a time. She worked six or seven days a week, taking a one-week vacation only once every three years — for 15 consecutive years!

She would have been pressed to find time and energy to volunteer. But her customers loved her and she provided jobs to many people who worked with her for years. I am proud that my mom was a recognized community entrepreneur and leader.

Ain’t nobody gonna tell me that she didn’t contribute!

I sympathize with kids in my community. As I chat with them, I see that they have the same ambitions and insecurities that I had when I was their age.

As I grew up, I didn’t experience a JA program. It would have given me an early edge.

When I see kids in my JA workshop become motivated and confident, I imagine that the program — and maybe me as a person — is a spark that propels them toward their dreams of work success and personal development.

A participant of JA revealed how JA sparked an intense curiosity in him:

What has impacted me more than anything? JA. Really. Junior Achievement broke through and hit me over the head in high school. From there I have been fascinated with how business, governments and markets work. They gave me the curiosity and the desire to learn.

I have gobbled-up knowledge and know how. Embraced mentors, teachers and anyone with a differing opinion than me. Our children need to learn everything that JA stands for.

I’m grateful that the teachers appreciate how JA programs enhance their curriculum. I enjoy how each teacher contributes to the program by helping me tailor it to their classroom’s personalities and dynamics — every class is different!

Tennis star Andy Roddick was surprised when Andre Agassi revealed that he cared more about empowering others in his community than winning tennis titles:

When I was 17 years old, we were on a flight together. I was very nervous, but Andre was kind and encouraged me to ask him questions. When I asked about his biggest regret, I expected some answer related to our profession. Instead he said it was not starting his charitable foundation earlier.

There are most likely plenty of kids at Andre Agassi College Preparatory Academy, a model K-12 charter school for disadvantaged children in Las Vegas, who have never watched a match of his. I promise you that Andre could not care less. He would rather be viewed as the man who gives them dreams and opportunities.

Actions speak louder than words. Volunteering shows that I give a damn: It demonstrates that I’m done talking about my values of helping others. Now people see that I’m doing it.




3. Enhance Your Self-Esteem

When I think of my volunteer work, I feel great.

I did an exercise that involved listing things that motivate and drive me. I listed everything that I find fun, interesting, or exciting; anything that means something to me.

For each item listed, I asked “Why do I care about it?” I wrote the reason why I cared. Then I looked at the reason and asked, “Why do I care about that reason?” I kept going deeper until I found that my reason for caring about almost everything reduced to the same fundamental reason.

For example, one item that I listed which drives me is “Reading and learning new things.”

I asked “Why do I like reading and learning new things?” I answered that I like learning to be a better writer by reading works of good writers.

Then “Why do I like learning to be a better writer?” Because I want to influence others. Being a better writer helps you to more effectively influence others — whether you’re writing an email, proposal, blog article, or book.

“Why do you want to influence others?” Because influencing others helps me earn money and win respect; people appreciate receiving information and feeling inspired.

“Why do people appreciate receiving information and feeling inspired?” Because it helps them to be more successful; to feel better about themselves and their own possibilities.

“Why do you care about helping people be more successful; to feel better about themselves and their own possibilities?” Because then they’re more likely to achieve their goals and feel happy — and I will have helped make that happen.

“Why do you care about helping people achieve their goals and helping them feel happy?” Because achieving goals, being happy, and helping others — is the reason we’re here. If we’re not here to develop ourselves; to be our best; and to help others be their best — then what else is there?

Doesn’t it all come down to being our best and helping others be their best? Then won’t we all enjoy the progress and happiness that flows from productive, happy, and sharing people?

Invest three hours in facilitating a JA program and you will feel a sense of euphoria and contribution that will stay with you for a long time. Contrast that with what you get from watching three hours of TV or three hours of playing a video game.

The enjoyment derived from watching the program or playing the game is often fleeting — usually vanishing the moment you turn off the TV.




4. Gain Understanding

I’ve learned that kids are unaware of the diversity of available careers — most dream of doing the same 30 or so white-collar professions. They have little idea of what work their parents do (other than by job title, if even that).

Parents need to help kids understand — in simple terms — what they do and how they do it, so kids can start having meaningful discussions about their own career possibilities.

I’ve observed that JA employees work hard! Non-profits are sometimes seen as less efficient than for-profit organizations. In my experience with JA however, the staff are devoted and run a lean ship.

I’ve been reminded of how hard it is to be a kid in high school. Today, it’s so easy for me to walk into any school, to speak with anyone, and to facilitate a program for 45 students.

But in my first year of high school, when I had to present in history class, I could barely breath.

I didn’t know how to talk to girls. It was crushing when I failed at something. It took practice for me to become a fluent, self-assured speaker. It took time to learn that failure is normal as we progress on the crooked — rather than linear — path to success.

When I share my early struggles with kids, it can give them hope that they too will overcome their self-doubts. It encourages me as well — when I think of how daunting some of my current obstacles seem — to be reminded that not long ago, I wouldn’t have been able to speak in front of five people, let alone 45.

One day, I’ll look back on my current obstacles and smile at how trivial they appear in retrospect.




5. Personal Development

The graph below shows that volunteers report gaining many skills through volunteering. The full survey shows how volunteering also improves job opportunities.

Another survey reports:

• 73% of employers would recruit a candidate with volunteering experience over one without.
• 94% of employers believe that volunteering can add to skills.
• 94% of employees who volunteered to learn new skills had benefited either by getting their first job, by improving their salary, or by being promoted.

I volunteer to explore new fields of potential interest:

Ibarra’s “Working Identity” shows that we discover who we are — and what we like to do — not by introspection, but by trying out new things. By engaging in new experiences and starting new relationships. From these experiments we learn about our skills and preferences.

Volunteering is a great way to try out things you might like to do: it’s easy to start volunteering, but it’s also easy to move on if what you picked is not the right fit for you.

Volunteering with JA has reinforced my conviction that I love to speak and facilitate. It’s shown me that I’m a bit obsessive (in a good way I hope) about continually refining the workshop content to make it more engaging and beneficial.

Volunteering with JA enhances my leadership skills:

I first heard of JA when an entrepreneur mentioned that she developed her leadership skills with adults by first leading kids as a JA volunteer.

For any skill you wish to strengthen, volunteering provides a safe environment to practice:

The second time I facilitated a JA program, I walked into a strong-minded and unruly class. The students were somewhat engaged with my material, but from the moment they sensed that “this chump can’t control the classroom,”  they became increasingly loud and interruptive. By the end of the morning I had lost order.

Then I witnessed an amazing thing. The students went into a classroom with a new teacher. Suddenly the same teenagers were actively participating. Rarely did they lose focus, interrupt the teacher, or goof off.

When a student did something that detracted from the lesson, the teacher corrected the student immediately and efficiently. I watched in astonishment.

The teacher explained to me that to gain the respect of the kids, I need to immediately establish myself as the alpha male and leader. I need to correct any misbehaviour promptly, abruptly, and consistently — in a firm but fair manner — with direct, simple instructions.

When a kid lifts his desk, I can’t ignore it, and I can’t ask, “Excuse me, if you don’t mind, would you please put that desk down?” Instead I need to tell the student, with authority, “Put that desk down.”

I learned about leading with my non-verbal communication, too: standing straighter, looking directly at students, and walking closer to them to engage or to correct.

The next class I facilitated had an extra 20 teenagers (45 in total). I maintained order.  The students also completed the exercises more thoughtfully.

And the students and staff said it was an enjoyable and impactful program. I was asked to return to give the workshop to another group.

Though I struggled the previous week, volunteering enabled me to get a fresh start to try again.

If you’re between jobs, volunteering shows that you’re not isolated at home, feeling depressed:

It demonstrates that you’re active, meeting with people and productively contributing. It provides you with great stories to share. If you do a good job, then you will get testimonials and references that help you receive introductions, and maybe even a job offer.

Volunteering with JA has helped me to meet interesting people and to make new friends.

Volunteering offers the best kind of networking: you give value without expecting anything in return, rather than just taking.

If you volunteer in a teaching role, you will find that nothing helps you master your subject matter more than having to teach it:

Each time I deliver a program, I notice what works and what does not. The next time, I leverage more of what worked, and I omit or change what did not. It’s an ongoing experiment for improvements.

I deliver the Dream Big Program in three hours, but I’ve spent days becoming more of a subject-matter expert on things related to the program. For instance, I learned about:

• My own dreams and life experiences (e.g., I confirmed some of my skills in public speaking and coaching).
• Role models that teens have today (from Terry Fox and Michael Jackson to Steve Nash and Bill Gates);
• Careers kids care about (often high-paying, white-collar professions);
• What gets kids excited about part-time jobs (money to buy a car, electronics, and clothes);
• How to motivate kids to volunteer (show how volunteering develops leadership skills, provides references, and gets their foot-in-the-door to otherwise inaccessible opportunities).
• Taxes for students working part-time jobs. (In Canada, for students under 18, and who earn less than $10,000 a year, the only amount deducted from their pay is a small amount for employment insurance. They effectively pay no income tax and are not deducted for the Canada Pension Plan.);
• The values that students believe can support their dreams (e.g., persistence and risk-taking);
• How values can conflict (e.g., loyalty vs. independence, candor vs. harmony); and how to help them resolve the conflicts.
• Ways to add and strengthen forces that support young people’s dreams, and how to overcome their perceived obstacles.
• Helping kids find mentors and how kids can work with mentors.

As a teaching volunteer, you learn as much or more from your students and your teaching experience as your students learn from you.




How You Can Volunteer

If you’d like to partner with the business community and educators to engage young people in hands-on programs that foster skills in work readiness, entrepreneurship, and financial literacy, then volunteering with Junior Achievement could be a very fulfilling experience for you.

I’ll leave you with this video which shows how we all volunteer daily, even by just holding a door for someone. It explores why now is a great time to volunteer.

Have you volunteered with Junior Achievement or another organization? Please share your experience.

1. 2000, National Survey of Giving, Volunteering and Participating: www.givingandvolunteering.ca/files/giving/en/factsheets/benefits_of_volunteering.pdf. [↩]

Tagged as: careers, community, facilitating, Junior Achievement, Leadership, Mark Synder, mentors, personal development, Presentations, self-esteem, students, teaching, values, volunteering