Congratulations to Amy McInerney, our May Volunteer of the Month!

Amy has just finished her degree in English Literature here at Anglia Ruskin University and alongside her studies, she has been a dedicated volunteer for Jimmy's homeless charity. Amy has also worked hard to set up two societies during her time at ARU, she helped to set up the Cambridge RAG society and set up and acts as President of the Literary Society. 

As well as volunteering as a community volunteer and as a committee member, Amy has also given up her time to write a blog for the Students' Union about her experiences writing her dissertation. Amy's blog has proved hugely popular and her writing has helped to demystify the dissertation process, we would definitely recommend reading it if you are thinking of writing a dissertation!

To read Amy's blog, have a look here. 

Volunteer Interview:

Q. Which organisation are you volunteering with?

A. Anglia Ruskin Students’ Union

Q. What is your role within the organisation and what are your main duties?

A. I am a student blogger and have documented my dissertation progress in the form of a diary for the last six months. My main goal was to communicate to fellow students and have something available to read that was relatable to them.

Q. What do you enjoy most about your volunteering role?

A. I love writing and being able to communicate with students and staff of the university. It was my own little project and I loved being able to be creative with it and write what I wanted to rather than following a set guideline which is what I am used to with my academic writing.

Q. Which skills have you used and learnt during your volunteering role?

A. I have improved my writing skills and also learnt what works when writing a blog. I have learnt how to keep people engaged and how to keep it short and sweet! I have found that pictures keep people interested and have included these on my blog posts so that readers have something visual to look at rather than just words on a page.

Q. Who does this volunteering role help to benefit and how do you achieve this?

A. My blog posts have helped students. They are aimed for students going through the dissertation process to show them that they are not on their own with their writing struggles but also to students in 1st and 2nd year to show them an account of how the writing process works and how it eventually will fall into place. I wanted to show students that it is normal to have writing struggles but that you can learn so much from writing your dissertation and it really is a positive experience.

Q. What are your career aspirations and how will this volunteering role help you towards your ambition?

A. I want to work in the education sector. This role has helped me learning how it is best to engage with students and the role that social media plays in this too. I am hoping to continue my work in a Students’ Union so having this experience has really helped me in terms of having it on my CV.

Q. How has the volunteering service helped you in your volunteering journey?

A. Abi has been fantastic in helping me with igniting my creativity when I have had a little bit of a writer’s block. The volunteering service has been great in helping me find other organisations to volunteer with and I am just about to start a social media role which I am very excited about. 

Congratulations Amy!  Thank you for being such a fantastic volunteer here at the SU, we wish you all the best for the future!