What Is the Right Activity for You?

By Heo Si-joon, Tribune Reporter

　It is necessary for university students to strengthen their sense of civic obligation through volunteer work for the good of their community. Volunteer activities provide an opportunity to have valuable experience in diverse fields and make a chance to work with others toward a common goal and develop social skills which will be applicable to careers. As volunteer participation is an indicator of students’ ability to accept responsibility and manage multiple commitments, it helps students improve their job-acceptance prospects.

With regards to this situation, Chonnam National University (CNU) has administered various public and volunteer service programs such as civic engagement programs to provide well-organized public service for the benefit of the community and volunteer programs to cultivate volunteer motivation among CNU students on campus. Chonnam Tribune introduces several public and volunteer programs that are available at the university, and help CNUians obtain information about voluntary activities in this article.

　
　Public Service Programs

CNU, as the primary university in our local community, provides diverse community-related service opportunities and practices for improving the community residents’ educational and academic capabilities because it cannot be established and sustained without the development of the community.

Among the public service programs operated by CNU, the first program is a scientific lecture series for the general public, “Science Touch on Friday,” to contribute to making local residents get in touch with leading scientists and popularize scientific knowledge. CNU started this public lecture program with the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology and the Korea Science and Engineering Foundation. The lecture series was designed for every participant from elementary school students to the elderly persons to understand the lecture. In these lectures, participants sometimes can do simple experiments by themselves.

As a part of volunteer participation in a local service program, scientists who receive research expenses from the government give free lectures for one hour about what they have studied in the Gwangju Jungang Library on 7 p.m. every Saturday this year. Many people who have participated in the program are satisfied with this program in respect of contribution to our community.

　The next activity is animal welfare work offered by the Gwangju Animal Care Center located on CNU’s campus. With a government budget, CNU’s Veterinary Hospital operates this center to improve animal welfare, protect wildlife and provide animal rescue around the city. If citizens report that they find missing animals to the center, a staff member bring the animal and does a physical checkup and takes a picture to notify the owners whose pets are missing. Until the owners show up, missing animals live in this center.
Being based on animal protection laws, the center staff members take care of missing animals and give them suitable medical treatment services without charge. The only center in Gwangju has bad facilities, but many supporters and volunteers give a big hand to the center and feel they want to change the center for the better.

　
　Voluntary Activity Programs

　CNU operates many volunteer activity programs that its students can participate in for the benefit of the community and the world, and also for helping CNU’s international students adjust themselves to Korean culture and lifestyle. First, the Office of International Affairs administrates voluntary activity programs to develop students’ global abilities and promote better mutual understanding between Korea and other countries through cultural exchanges, in cooperation with other organizations such as the Korean University Council for Social Services and the Pacific Asia Society. In addition, the Language Education Center provides opportunities to teach foreign students Korean culture and language by offering the Korean Mentoring Program. Through the activity, Korean students can help international students improve their Korean abilities and lead a better school life.

　Second, as a part of the Youth Culture Cultivation Project which is a kind of local community-cooperated activity, the Division of Student Affairs manages volunteer service programs to offer opportunities for CNUians to take the initiative in using their free time usefully. In 2008, there were 10 voluntary programs, and among them, the Abroad Voluntary Service Program, the Mentoring for Runaway Juveniles, the Helper for the Old Living Alone, and the Helper to Welfare Institutes for the Disabled were evaluated to be well operated. In addition to those programs, some CNUians can participate in the 24-Hour Famine Camp with other university students and citizens to support children around the world. Park Cha-bin, a staff member of this camp said, “During high school, students were forced to do voluntary service, so many freshmen think doing it is boring. We started the camp to get rid of their preconception about doing a volunteer activity. It must be a valuable and unforgettable experience to participate in the camp as a participant or a staff member. I wish CNUians could take part in this camp as a staff member.”

　
　Volunteer Activity Clubs

　If you want to choose to do voluntary work as an extracurricular activity, you can join students’ volunteer service clubs such as “SinHaeng” and “Heemangyahack” at CNU.

They are campus clubs with over twenty years’ tradition and very active as compared with other voluntary service clubs. The members of “SinHaeng” visit the Gwangju Bethel Nursing Home and Gwangju Sekwang School and do voluntary work every Saturday. At the nursing home, they help old people take a bath, clean the home and have conversations with them. At Gwangju Sekwang School for physically challenged children, the club members play with them and become mentors for them.

The club “Heemangyahak” is a night school in which college students teach people who have not received formal school education. They are composed of volunteer students from CNU, Chosun University, Kwangju Women’s University and Gwangju National University of Education. Twice a week, the club members operate many educational

programs to teach late learners all subjects from elementary courses to the qualification examination for college entrance. There are five classes, and each class was usually runs about an hour and 30 minutes. Sometimes they go on a picnic and have a party as extracurricular activities. A club member, Yang Jeong-ae said, “We hope freshmen join our club. I think our club activity maybe hard, but it will be a valuable and fun experience.”

　
Conclusion

CNU students have many and diverse volunteer activity programs available to them on campus. Maybe they choose to do volunteer work as an extracurricular activity based on their personal interests, the benefits they offer, or free will to serve the community. However, students should remember that the real purpose of voluntary service programs is to encourage youth to engage in their community and care for society in general. It is difficult to do voluntary service work for others, but you can find it worthy if you volunteer for the benefit of community.

Through volunteering activities, you can have valuable experiences and advance your ability in a variety of fields and then improve self-confidence. If you want to do voluntary activities as mentioned above, use those programs operated by the university and campus clubs. Look on CNU bulletin boards or in student publications. Do volunteer right away or wait to see how your schedule will be and volunteer later.