Accounting For Change: Volunteering With Youth

This week, we’re celebrating the launch of our company-wide program, #AccountingForChange, an employee volunteer initiative where team members across the country are encouraged to take time out of their regular work days to give back to an organization of their choice.

Today, we feature teammates who spent their time volunteering to help out the youth in various ways.

Volunteer Spotlight: Jae Johnson

Jae Johnson (Content Editor) was the head mom backstage for Tampa Ballet Theatre’s performance of The Nutcracker.

Tampa Ballet Theatre

Tampa Ballet Theatre is a non-profit professional ballet company in the Tampa Bay Area since 2012. Its mission is to educate, entertain, and broaden the outlook of the community through the works of classical and contemporary ballet. It also engages in community functions to help give back through the art of ballet and lending a structural support for the arts.

Jae’s Experience

“As a head mom backstage, I was responsible for leading all backstage moms and assisting where and when needed, such as answering questions and finding answers to questions. I was also responsible for nowing all the entrances for every role and when they should be backstage preparing for their part. I assisted all young girls in the Party Scene and Polichinelle cast with costumes and hair pieces, and kept an eye on them in between their parts.

Although it was stressful, it was a lot of fun! There were about 2,200 people per show and it was a great experience seeing everyone come together– audience, performers, and backstage hands–to create a beautiful show and support the arts.” –Jae Johnson

Volunteer Spotlight: Eva Arnold

Eva Arnold (Course Coordinator) volunteered at her local elementary school and its Math Olympiads chapter.

Math Olympiads

Math Olympiads is a program offering math competitions to students in grades 4-8. The goals of the program are:

•   To stimulate enthusiasm and a love for Mathematics
•   To introduce important Mathematical concepts
•   To teach major strategies for problem solving
•   To develop Mathematical flexibility in solving problems
•   To strengthen Mathematical intuition
•   To foster Mathematical creativity and ingenuity
•   To provide for the satisfaction, joy, and thrill of meeting challenges

Eva’s Experience

“I truly believe tackling difficult math problems offers vital life lessons, especially for students for whom regular classroom math comes easily. Part of my work involved just keeping students on task who wanted to give up. The math problems were more like logical puzzles. I learned a lot from them myself!

The dedicated teacher who started this Math Olympiads chapter offers this program on her own time. I was happy to support her. My daughter and I even took home some of the classroom’s pencils, sharpened them at home, and returned them – the classroom’s manual pencil sharpener was broken.

I hope Math Olympiads and programs like it will encourage more children to consider STEM career fields.” –Eva Arnold

Volunteer Spotlight: Dede Nwanguma

Dede Nwanguma (Business Development Representative – Texas) volunteered for the Community Council of Greater Dallas’ youth development after school program at Fred F. Florence Middle School.

Community Council of Greater Dallas

The Community Council has led collaboration and communications to improve the quality of life for people and access to the services they need. The Community Council has been involved in every major human services issue through seven decades. It has identified services that are needed in the community, assessed how best services could be delivered to meet social issues, and mobilized and implemented action plans working in concert with its member agencies and public sector resources.

Dede’s Experience

“My friend Robert Bailey is a mentor and youth leader for the program and invited me to come in and talk to the kids about life as a college student-athlete, the importance of education, career exploration, and life skills such as emotional regulation in hopes of expanding their horizons.

I had an opportunity to talk with these kids and hear their stories of past obstacles, their passions, and future goals. I had an amazing time and I’m happy to have dedicated time to help motivate kids strive for a better future thanks to the Accounting for Change initiative!” –Dede Nwanguma