Alicia Wang
About Alicia…
Why do you feel it’s important to volunteer as a youth?
I believe that volunteering can help teenagers to see the issues in the world and start to make real contributions to society. Normally, teenagers are the ones who enjoy goods and services, yet blind to the existence of social issues and the importance of solving them. Only when teenagers are in the position of problem solvers, they can start to make contributions and appreciate the workers in the field.
How does volunteering benefit you?
By volunteering, I improved my communication skills. Communicating with people and establishing relationships with strangers are essential and inevitable in the volunteering process. Large numbers of communication trained me to have better skills in building up good relationships with others, understanding others' needs, and communicating my thoughts clearly.
What advice would you give someone who is thinking about volunteering as a tutor?
The advice I would give is to try to be sensitive to the needs of one's tutees. A difference between an adult tutor and teenagers like us is that our purpose is not only to teach and help them with their homework or academics but also to build relationships with them and listen to their thoughts and feelings. Therefore, as a tutor, it is important to make the atmosphere less stressful or not too serious. The tutors like us need to be sensitive to what one's tutees need and to balance one's identity between being a 'teacher' and a big sister or a friend.