Faces of IH: Volunteering

By Crissy Tinio ’18

The Bamboo continues to feature its column “Faces of IH” that is inspired by Humans of New York (HONY). These interviews with various students strive to capture the personalities and the opinions that make up Immaculate Heart’s unique and diverse school community. Questions asked of students range from contemplative and serious to lighthearted and even silly. Hopefully their answers give readers insight and a further appreciation of their Panda sisters as well as the common ground they share with each other.

Our first “Faces of IH” of the school year focuses on volunteering. Seniors Irene Yoon and Jena Chenyat and junior Lauryn Chamberlain were asked these questions: Where do you like to volunteer? What is your favorite aspect of this activity? How has this shaped your outlook on life or your future in any way?

Irene Yoon

     “A lot of the time, I volunteer at a local community garden just because I find it really interesting; I really like sustainability and providing food for those who don’t have access to fresh produce.

     My favorite aspect of this job is that it’s a good stress reliever. When I’m at school, I’m always focused on schoolwork and I just get bogged down by anything academic-related. But when I do gardening, or just when I’m around nature, it’s really soothing to me. Also, again, just helping those who aren’t able to afford fresh produce is fulfilling because I help provide alternatives that foster a healthy lifestyle for them.

     This experience has helped me grow in the sense that — maybe this is getting too philosophical — there are a lot of people in L.A. or in our more local communities that are alone and that don’t have access to good produce, which is really detrimental to their health. So, taking better care of those in need is something that I want to do. And although I’ll be studying international relations in college instead of something environmentally related, I’ll still get the same fulfillment of being able to help others, which is always something that I strive to do in my life.”

Lauryn Chamberlain

     “There was a T.S. Arts event at this public school — they were doing some arts and crafts with students and their parents — and I was there to help facilitate the event by doing little things like handing out supplies to the little kids and cleaning up after the event, too. It was really fun!

     I especially liked how friendly all the staff were and I enjoyed going around and helping the kids because I’m not usually not very good at talking to people I don’t know. So, I’m happy that I was able to gain experience in a very casual and relaxed setting. The kids were really adorable, too.

     This task reaffirmed my desire to enter an art field in my future. I have been stuck on what I want to do in life and I’m leaning toward doing some sort of art job. Even though I’m more interested in being a freelance artist as opposed to an art teacher, I’m glad that this experience gave me a small peek into what being an art teacher would be like. I wouldn’t mind dabbling in this sort of profession, either.”

Jena Chanyat

     “I help at my old school by cleaning classrooms and tutoring kids with basic math and English. My old school is pretty small, so I get to work with a lot of kids of different ages. I mostly work with second and third graders, though.

     I most enjoy that this experience allows me to work to my personal strengths. I’m a pretty nurturing person, and I feel like by helping kids, I’m able to express that quality of myself more than I can in my day-to-day life outside of this activity.

     This experience helped me broaden my horizons a bit more and made me begin to take an interest in studying education or pediatrics in college, since I enjoy working with kids.”