My experience
When I moved to Tampere a year and a half ago the first person I met here was my tutor. During the Welcome Week our tutors made sure to help us get settled, connected, and feeling warmly welcomed. Those first weeks were super important for me. I met friends and learned how to navigate the new surroundings. They also sparked in me the desire to carry this feeling forward. And thus, my journey of volunteering at Tampere University began.
Being a tutor
When the university was looking for tutors for international exchange students I immediately applied even though I was still a fresher myself. My tutees who arrived in January were very chill and did not need much guidance besides some help with the keys and a campus tour. It was not very work intensive but I still got training on how to be a tutor and met some people from other degree programs. In the summer I also started being a tutor for freshers from my own degree program. I was much more involved here. Together with other tutors I organized events for the Welcome Week and the following months. We wanted the new students to feel as welcome as we were and give them the ability to connect with each other and form a stable bond to thrive in their new study environment. In a full circle moment I also picked up three of the new students from the train station and got to be the first face they saw in their new hometown.
Volunteering at academic conferences
In the spring of this year, within the course of only a few weeks, I also volunteered at two different academic conferences: The Board Game Studies Colloquium and the Spring Seminar. We were not so much part of the organizing team here but it included more practical work. We ran the mic and the info desk, we accredited the speakers and guests, wrote a report, took pictures, and managed the discord. In exchange, the student volunteers got to listen to the talks for free, meet and mingle with experts from the field, take part in the activities, and eat some free food. I learned a lot in those two conferences and saw what was possible in the field of Game Studies. Some of the presentations even sparked some ideas for my Master’s thesis and an article on the Playlab magazine.
Other areas
Another student ambassador has written about Oasis before, so you can head over here if you want to know more about it. It is a social learning space on Campus and run by a class of students called Key Masters. Since I am not taking the Oasis Key Master class anymore I am now entirely a volunteer there. I am working as a research assistant in the research group. We conducted some research this year – we even presented some ideas at the Spring Seminar – and are hoping to publish some articles next year. In addition and because I feel responsible for the space, I am involved in Oasis’ upkeep, developing projects – like getting a custom Oasis overall patch, and improving its quality for users.
I am a Tampere University ambassador, which is why I am writing this blog post. Besides that, I have also been a student representative in my study program. This included attending teaching steering meetings together with the Game Studies staff and representing our students’ voices in these meetings. Together with my colleague I collected feedback from our fellow students about the classes and the program in general. Just last week I also attended a value mapping workshop with some of the teachers to develop a clearer idea about how our program works for its different actors and what we could work on.
As a student representative it was also important to me to get a bit more involved in my student association, so I became a part of the international team of UDK and introduced the student representative as a bridge between Game Studies students and the association. This can reach from just giving input to co-organizing events.
Why you should volunteer
Here’s some reasons why you should consider volunteering
- Meet people from different backgrounds and making friends
- Some might be from other countries
- Some might be experts in your field
- Expand your skillset
- Organizing events
- Leading people
- Working in a (intercultural) group
- Developing and improving your study program
- Learning more about what you are good at and what you can improve on
- Get some (Finnish) work experience
- You learn more about Finnish (work and study) culture
- You might get a reference for your CV
- Potentially some ECTS credits
- Potentially free food and a small monetary compensation
What else you could do
I have gathered for you some other positions and places that you could consider. At Tampere University there are different student associations and clubs. You can join your student association and as an international you could also become part of INTO or ESN FINT. The associations are often looking for board members, officers or just volunteers for single events. In the structure above those, there is Trey and with it the student council (Council of Representatives). For an international student the university is a good place to start looking for volunteer places because many things are done or can be done in English. Depending on your interests you could also volunteer at places outside of university such as animal shelters, youth clubs, and other organizations often need enthusiastic people that have some time and new ideas to help them. There is a place for you if you look for it!
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