Volunteering at Unitree.

LO4 –Show commitment to and perseverance in CAS experiences. LO5- Demonstrate the skills and recognize the benefits of working collaboratively. LO6- Demonstrate engagement with issues of global significance

Growing up in an open family and studying at a school that is so accepting and open to people of different mindsets and backgrounds, volunteering at Unitree, an initiative by my school-mate which is for engagements of kids with down syndrome was very accepting and fun for me. There were several events of Unitree along the way, clay rings making, their one-year anniversary, and I volunteered for as many as I could.

LO6- Demonstrate engagement with issues of global significance

CAS helped me empathize more with children with down syndrome, and understand how they are normal kids just like us and not how many people treat them. As the whole initiative is about creating a friendship circle for the kids, it made me realize how hard it is for kids who are suffering through down syndrome to make friends in schools and basically everywhere, I have witnessed several kids suffering through it and hence taking part in this was very appealing and a very good experience for me.

O4 –Show commitment to and perseverance in CAS experiences

Volunteering is also about commitment and perseverance, and for me, following through with a commitment is a little difficult as I tend to get a little lazy but as this was something I was passionate about and something I really wanted to do I volunteered with every opportunity I got. So for one of my volunteering experiences I helped with their clay ring making sessions, I helped the children there to make clay rings and that was a very fun experience. Then, for another one of their events, I performed a small jamming music session for all the other volunteers and the children involved, and for their most recent event, which was a Diwali party, me and my friend who learns music with me performed together for their party. Performing with another person and collaborating with them is always a new experience and for me, who does not have so much experience in the same, it was a very fun and new experience, for the same setting up practice sessions and meeting up on time was a little difficult as both of us are students and have classes so we did not get so much time to practice but we made the best out of the time we could take out.

LO5- Demonstrate the skills and recognize the benefits of working collaboratively

Teamwork is very important when singing together, and through our practice sessions we were able to build that rapport which helped us smoothen out our volunteering experience, not only there but working together as a team with the other volunteers is also a huge role, as this is something the volunteers are setting up for the children and hence everyone tries their best to make the event as engaging as possible.

Throughout all the volunteering sessions and I am sure through the ones about to come, I have learned that no matter how several people around the world treat certain kids with down syndrome, they are normal kids like us, who want very simple things, friends, love and they just want to have fun and to be accepted and these experiences have made me see and realize all the things in a new light and has made me more empathetic, and all in all, it was very fun to volunteer at too.