The Serve, lead and inspire conference teaches French college students the joys of volunteering

TOPEKA, Kan. (WIBW) – French college students were able to experience the joys of volunteering on Saturday at the first-ever Serve, Lead and Inspire conference.

The program is led by school counselor, Jean Ryan, who received funding for the conference through a grant from the Kansas Volunteer Commission.

“It’s up to them to determine what to do and where to help,†she explained.

“We have a program here called Builders Club, which is sponsored by Kiwanis, it’s about service, leadership and so that’s kind of where the idea for the conference started, the kids want to volunteer, they just need to know where to go and how to go about it. I do it.”

Ryan said there are key reasons why it’s important to get kids to think about volunteering.

“They are part of the community and I think community involvement is important no matter your age,†she said.

“Children are often seen as only capable of collecting food or picking up trash, but there are so many more opportunities for middle school students that they don’t even realize it. “

She said there are many positive contributions volunteering can make in a child’s life.

“It gives them leadership skills for later, it helps them learn to be an active and positive part of the community,†she said.

“The adults in the community then look at the students and say ‘oh’, maybe that will change part of their perspective on young people, because not everyone has a positive opinion of young people and there is So has a lot of different advantages to it. ”

She hopes the children can discover the long-term benefits of volunteering and gain self-confidence.

“It just allows kids to engage and connect, and because kids are connected to the community, they want to do good things for the community. If we can connect the kids to the community they might want to help make our community better, they want to stay and not contribute to crime later, not all kids, â€he said. she declared.

“I want them to know that they can do it, that they are able to volunteer and that they know how to go about it even if they don’t do it with us with our group here at the school that they have a plan for something they can still do in our community.

The children ended the day with a service project where they wrote letters to active duty members.

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