Volunteer Fair at QMS 2024

By Jason C. (‘25) 

Organized by Head Prefect Maia C. (‘24), Senior School students were thrilled to find 12 volunteer organizations with myriad service opportunities right here on campus.  

“Big waves [of students] came in,” said Shaylee M. (‘24). “Everyone was very eager and were all mulling around, which was really nice to see. It’s wonderful to see so many different programs here to share their info with students and just to connect and to build our community.” 

Maia said that she was inspired to curate this fair after seeing constant volunteer shortages around the valley. “I work for a nonprofit, Volunteer Cowichan, and so I’ve been all too familiar with the lack of volunteers for them,” shared Maia. “I felt like students at our school were pretty unaware of all those opportunities, so I wanted to [create a platform] to connect them.” 

Kathleen Erickson, an ambassador for the local organization Literacy Now Cowichan, was pleased with the exposure the fair provided. “It was really cool for us,” said Erickson. “The students were interested in what we were doing, and we were able to get our name out to the community.”  

Coordinating dozens of booths was no easy task. “[It took] lots and lots of emails going out to coordinate this event, from working out the transportation details to securing the venue,” said Maia. “The Service Club was of great help,” continued Maia. “They’ve been wonderful with helping with setting up and assisting [guests on campus].” 

As an outgoing Senior, Maia has great hopes for the fair to continue on in her absence. “Hopefully, I’ll be able to find a younger student to mentor to take on the responsibility of organizing it next year,’ she said. “I would love to see that legacy continue on, and for it to get bigger and better every year.”