My name is Ethan and I have been volunteering with Froglife for just over a year. Last academic year I was looking for work experience I could do to go with my college course. When looking at local places I contacted Froglife and was excited when they wanted me to help.
I started by helping at Westraven Community Garden where I helped at the groups ran for the local primary school. Helping at the sessions was positive as the children there were always grateful and cheerful no matter what the weather was like. Whilst at the sessions I was able to improve my teamwork as well as the skills required to work with children. With the children, we did a range of different tasks including bird feeder making, den building and marshmallow toasting which helped improve the children’s communication and teamwork skills.
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Over the summer holiday, I was able to go to several events which both looked at using practical skills which were different to what I had done with Froglife previously. In one of the sessions, I was able to help children create a hibernaculum which was great fun as it also allowed me to pass on information that I knew to both the other volunteers and the children taking part in the session. The other session I was able to go to was very different and it was mainly older people and doing the work myself rather than leading. This allowed me to improve my practical skills and also my communication skills as I worked with people to get the task completed.
This academic year I have started as well as going to the school biased sessions I have started to do some work in the office which has enabled me to learn how the office works and has allowed me to get more involved in the sessions as I can help prepare for future sessions that will occur. Working in the office has also let me develop an understanding of how Froglife and other charities work when not and sessions or at events.
