Ever considered the opportunity to offer your help or engage with someone you might learn something from? Well, volunteering provides an awesome platform for college students to do so.
In 2013, an estimated 62.6 million American citizens volunteered, of which 26% of volunteers devoted their time to educational opportunities. [i] This paints a great picture of the multiple educational opportunities available at your fingertips nationally. With STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) being a hot topic in education and a major focus within President Barack Obama’s administration, it is important in the volunteering space to help involve more and more youth in STEM initiatives.
There are many STEM related educational programs, like eCYBERMISSION, that provide opportunities for college students to get involved with the community. eCYBERMISSION, a free web-based STEM competition offered by the Army Educational Outreach Program, challenges students in grades six through nine to team up and identify a problem in their community by using scientific practices or engineering design processes to propose a solution and compete for awards up to $9,000 in savings bonds.
Last year, the eCYBERMISSION Volunteer Program created a unique opportunity to involve colleges and universities nationally to participate in the STEM competition as Student Virtual Judges. As the role suggests, Student Virtual Judges help in scoring a minimum of five team projects online, known as Mission Folders. This is an excellent opportunity for college students to connect the engineering and scientific principles in a critical thinking application.
This volunteer opportunity allows college students to not only boost their resumes and build on existing skill sets, but grow as an individual. No matter how students give their time to volunteer, the end goal is that good work is accomplished. The work done with eCYBERMISSION is rewarding and volunteers have the opportunity to make a real difference.
Since the creation of the Student Virtual Judge program, eCYBERMISSION has seen several colleges and universities adopt the volunteer program as part of their STEM curriculum. Some colleges and universities actually require a human relations or community service project for graduation, so volunteering as a judge could definitely meet that requirement. Since this is a STEM competition, students in any of the four disciplines (science, technology, engineering or mathematics) would benefit from this opportunity and if in education, would offer the chance to see what sixth through ninth grade students are capable of doing.
eCYBERMISSION is just one of the many examples of opportunities waiting for you to use. Utilize your ability to engage with others and volunteer. Connect with us on Facebook and Twitter @ecybermission to see how others are taking action!
To register as a Student Virtual Judge, visit http://ecybermission.com/VirtualJudge/RegisterCode.
Learn more at www.ecybermission.com/Roles.
[i] http://www.volunteeringinamerica.gov/National
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