Poznański Wolontariusz Roku⌗

Poznański Wolontariusz Roku (Poznań Volunteer of the Year) is an annual competition that recognizes and rewards individuals who dedicate a significant portion of their lives to volunteer work. The laureates are chosen by the competition jury and fall into six categories:

  • Youth: for individuals below the age of 19
  • Individual: for individuals between the ages of 19 and 60
  • Senior: for individuals above the age of 60
  • Group: for groups conducting volunteer activities
  • School Volunteering: for teams operating within school volunteer circles
  • Employee Volunteering: for employee volunteering programs

I was, of course, in the first group.

However, the beauty of this competition is that you don’t sign up yourself; others nominate you. I was fortunate to have a dedicated CAS Coordinator without whom I wouldn’t even know about this initiative and who put me in!

That’s how the story began in a nutshell.

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A 'teaser'/explanation of CIS actions.
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Volunteer Bingo for engaging people.

Workshops and more⌗

Nevertheless, before the laureates were announced on December 7th, workshops were organized a day before for different age groups. I took part in those workshops because I said to myself, “why not?” And it was a great decision!

New Things⌗

I arrived almost an hour before the registration started, so I had plenty of time. It turned out to be a very beneficial experience since many volunteer organizations were there to showcase what they’re doing and offer opportunities for involvement.

For me, the two most memorable were Centrum Inicjatyw Senioralnych (CIS, eng. Center for Senior Initiatives) and Centrum Inicjatyw Międzykulturowych Horyzonty (Horyzonty, eng. Center for Intercultural Initiative Horizons). The former offers the so-called “digital volunteering” in which you show an elderly person how to use Instagram, change the default font on a smartphone, and more. The latter, besides engaging locally, is largely based on the European Solidarity Corps (ESC), which is a part of Erasmus. Basically, it lets you choose a project in a European country, and you go there for the assigned period of time, providing housing, food, and some money, and more!

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There was an awful lot of food.
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And I really mean it, a lot.

Workshops⌗

So that was before the actual workshops that started at 2:30 p.m.

I chose the workshop about social media. On the whole, it was about how to use social media to successfully promote yourself and your organization. It was nice, although there weren’t many people. They said there should have been like 20 or so, but there were 10 if I recall correctly. Despite this, it was very meaningful, I must admit. However, in my opinion, the best part was showing examples of quite successful social media profiles of some volunteer organizations such as Dolnośląski Inspektorat Ochrony Zwierząt (DIOZ, eng. Lower Silesian Animal Protection Inspectorate). If you need some inspiration on how to run a profile on social media, that’s a good place to start (provided that you’re Polish, of course).

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My ticket to get a... ticket, you get the idea.
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Don't ask me why, just enjoy it.

Discussion⌗

The workshops lasted about an hour. Then, we had a break with something nice to eat. After that, there was a discussion between the laureates of the competition from the previous year. It was interesting, but at that point, I was dead tired and probably missed some thoughts. Fortunately, some stuck in my mind, with which I rather agreed - like “volunteer work is valuable as it provides you with a sense of control and impact.”

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Discussion about the volunteer work.

Gala⌗

As I mentioned, the results of the competition were announced on December 7th. It all took place during an official gala, which I did not attend alone. First off, I had my girlfriend with me to back me up. On my left wing, I also had a school representative in the form of our IB Coordinator. It was great!

Even though I didn’t win the award, I received an honorable mention, as did two other girls. It was really cool. I’m sincerely happy, and not because I won a ticket for two to the theater, but because it was a recognition of my hard work.

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The poster of the event.
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My dimploma for the honorable mention.

Not to Repeat Myself⌗

I can’t say anything here that I haven’t already said, so I’m just gonna go with this: do whatever it is that you want to do, but do it to the fullest, make yourself indispensable, and you’ll be rewarded greatly.

Learning outcomes:⌗

  • LO 1 Strength and Growth
  • LO 2 Challenge and Skills
  • LO 3 Initiative and Planning
  • LO 4 Commitment and Perseverance
  • LO 5 Collaborative Skills
  • LO 6 Global Engagement
  • LO 7 Ethics of Choices and Actions