Volunteer Experiences
I value volunteering as a pivotal way to engage with, and add value to a variety of communities and dedicate a lot of my free time to this end. I believe that volunteering is one of the most effective ways to make the world a better, and more equitable place and love finding new opportunities to engage with others through art, music, event production, gardening, and education. Below you can find descriptions of many of my volunteer experiences and I'm happy to talk at length about any of them if you are interested in getting involved or have questions.
I value volunteering as a pivotal way to engage with, and add value to a variety of communities and dedicate a lot of my free time to this end. I believe that volunteering is one of the most effective ways to make the world a better, and more equitable place and love finding new opportunities to engage with others through art, music, event production, gardening, and education. Below you can find descriptions of many of my volunteer experiences and I'm happy to talk at length about any of them if you are interested in getting involved or have questions.
- I have volunteered as the camp lead for my Burning Man camp since first getting involved in the event in 2015. In this role I have managed a variety of camps, with populations of 21-128 people, as well as a number of art projects (many that take 6 months+ to build), and am responsible for budgets of upwards of $55k-$110k. This experience requires flexibility, an ability to work with multiple teams and personalities, immense amounts of creativity and physical labor, and year-long planning of multiple events to raise money and recruit volunteers. Utilizing my management expertise, love of spreadsheets, and passion for community engagement I have found great success in this leadership role for the last 5 years and plan on continuing it long into the future.
- I volunteered to co-lead a quarterly event for my dance collective in June of 2019 just 2 months after joining the collective. This required learning the collective's procedures and policies, attending to their 503(c) legal and financial requirements, managing a budget of $16k, and a volunteer staff of 8 different teams made up of more than 50 people. I am proud to say that I lead a very successful 500 person event, replete with DJ's, performers, food, and art on a very short timeline to plan, coordinate, and execute the 9 hour, multi-dance-floor event
- In April 2019 I volunteered with my 5th grade students from Charles Armstrong School and their families to help a local San Francisco organization that supports Veterans via community service. This amazing experience brought my students, their families, and I together to garden in John McLaren Park in San Francisco alongside veterans from the community and was a highly rewarding experience. We were planning on repeating this activity in April 2020 but had to postpone due to COVID-19.
- In 2018 I volunteered to help organize and produce a new 100 person festival in Northern California. This required budgeting, volunteer recruitment, food coordination, art creation, the creation of safety and legal documentation, and the ability to maximize our $10k budget to meet all our needs. This was in addition to several other volunteer activities I was engaged in that year and was a lot of fun to help produce.
- I created an adult book club in January of 2018 that meets every month and consists of 6 regular members with up to 12 members at times. The book club is run on a democratic format that I created from scratch and has had great success in participation and literacy engagement. Let me know if you have questions and I'll happily tell you about the details.
- In May of 2016 I helped to organize and produce a new 100 person private festival in central California. This required working with new volunteer staff, multiple teams that had previously never worked together, and finding creative solutions to meeting the needs of the event given the limited financial resources available. I was able to effectively utilize my legal, management, and organizational skills to help the event be a success.
- I volunteered to start, organize and teach the only after school Book Club at Seaside Middle School during the 2014-2015 academic year. I effectively recruited a mixed-grade group of 15 students from the 6th and 7th grade classes to participate in a two hour long, weekly after school reading club for the entire school year (a serious commitment for the students when managing sporting activities and other extra-curricular responsibilities). I succeeded in my goals of fostering a love of literature in students, building confidences and perseverance in regards to student reading abilities, and deepening analytical questioning, speech and debate skills among the group. During our time together we developed reading, social, and communication skills, and identified strategies to help students learn time management in regards to pacing and homework completion, note taking and reading inquiry skills. All of the students, and their parents, gave positive feedback about their participation in the club and said they wanted to take part in the club again the following year.
- I volunteered as a teaching assistant for Dr. George Price’s Introduction to Native American Studies course at the University of Montana from August of 2009 to December, 2013. I held review sessions for each exam where I expounded on cultural traditions and helped students review course material to prepare for exams. I also helped grade the essay portions of the exams, assisted with technology within the classroom and provided any additional support to Dr. Price as needed.
- From September 2013 to December 2013 I volunteered in Kayla Friedley's combination first and second grade classroom at Rattlesnake Elementary. I assisted with the delivery of lessons to the whole class, provided one-on-one support to struggling students, and assisted Ms. Friedley as needed with other classroom duties such as grading, delivery of instruction, and supervision of students.
- From February to April 2013 I volunteered with W.O.R.D. as a weekly tutor during the school day. I worked one-on-one within the classroom with a student in need of academic assistance. The academic support was primarily focused on mathematics, this was the area of most need for the student. I taught problem solving strategies, practiced utilization of fundamental skills, and supported the student in making connections to real-world applications as a supplement to earlier whole-class instruction.
- Starting in September 2012 and continuing through May 2013 I worked as the Assistant Flagship Coordinator at Washington Middle School under Becky Lupold Moody. I assisted in administrative duties such as supervising volunteers and students, coordinating schedules and attendance, and maintaining positive relations with school staff and parents. I was also in charge of helping to collect and file data used to garner financial and statistical support for the Flagship Program. When needed I filled in for activity leaders when they were unable to come, this included leading a variety of different educational activities with no preparation time.
- I have volunteered extensively with the local Missoula after-school program, Flagship, which facilitates a variety of free educational activities for students in the public schools grades K-12. During 2012, 2011, 2010, and 2009 I volunteered or worked with Flagship for a total of 6 different semesters on a weekly basis leading a variety of different educational activities. The most challenging experience was also the one that I learned the most from. In the fall of 2011 I lead an activity called, “High School Buddies”, where 10 second and third grade students from Lowell Elementary partnered with 13 high school students from Hellgate High School. Each week the group participated in a variety of activities from cooking and volunteering at a local animal shelter, to learning African dance and ice skating. I was solely responsible for supervising both groups of students, managing the students with attention to safety and participation in a variety of local settings (Animeals Animal Shelter, The Corn Maze, and Glacier Ice Skating Rink) and utilization of the public bus system for transportation which required strict time management skills. This particular activity was always run by two volunteers, however due to my extensive dedication, history, and positive achievement volunteering with Flagship, I was allowed to run the program on my own when they were short staffed for volunteers that semester.
- During the same semester (Fall 2011) I taught an after school organic vegetarian cooking class for six 4th and 5th grade students at Paxon Elementary once a week. Each week I lead the students through a new recipe that each student cooked single portions of, discussed kitchen safety, cooking terminology and exposed students to a variety of healthy ethnic foods.
- I volunteered as a tutor for the Education Department for the academic years of 2010 and 2011 tutoring my peers in Mathematical education courses M135 & M136. I assisted students in preparing for exams, outlining study habits, note taking practices and general tutoring. This included assigning and reviewing homework when the professor opted not to so my pupils would have opportunities to practices and develop their mathematical skills.
- As part of my chosen field of study I met departmental requirements for set amounts of hands-on hours spent with children in the schools. During the spring of 2011 I spent time assisting in an eighth grade classroom at C.S. Porter Middle School where I helped teach lessons, supervise students and develop lesson plans. During the spring 2012 semester I volunteered with Flagship at Lowell Elementary as a reader and art teacher for 15 kindergarten and first grade students, as well as volunteering at the Learning and Belonging LAB Preschool at the Phyllis J. Washington College of Education and Human Sciences. During the fall 2013 semester I spent 5 weeks volunteering in a third grade classroom at Hawthorne Elementary assisting with all aspects of teaching, lesson planning, lesson delivery, assessment and student supervision.
- From May-September 2011 I was a babysitter once a week for a 1.5 year old boy, the son of Nicole Garr. Each week I was responsible for watching the child for 3-4 hours spending all our time in the downtown area of Missoula near Mrs. Garr’s business. I took the child to the Missoula Art Museum, the Missoula Public Library, to the downtown parks, playing in the shore of the Clarkfork River and the Carousel of Missoula. Each week I had to outline 4 hours of activities, plan and facilitate lunch, and accommodate for varying nap times.
- During the fall of 2009 I volunteered at Washington Middle School with the Flagship program as an after school tutor once a week. There were an average of 15-20 students from sixth to eighth grade who needed help within any one or more of their classes in Mathematics, Social Studies, Science, and English.
- I volunteered at Sentinel High School during the same semester with the Flagship program supervising a group of 10 high school students volunteering at a local Karelian Bear Dog rescue facility, Wind River Tails & Trails. Students and I helped clean kennels, interacted with animals in a kind and patient manner, and learned about animal rescue work. I was responsible for time coordination and transportation of the group to and from the high school and rescue facility 20 miles away.