My Volunteer Experience - Dylan Reed | SAcommunity

Submitted by Volunteer Dylan Reed on Tue, 09/17/2024 - 18:07

Welcome Dylan!

Dylan Reed joined our SAcommunity Team - Media and Communications Team as a volunteer while he works towards his studies at University, beginning with the team this year on the 29 August 2024. He attends for ~4 hours a week onsite at the Connecting Up office, Infoxchange around his casual work shifts.

Dylan recently published his first article, and a collection of his stories will be able to be found at his portfolio link here: https://sacommunity.org/blog/21441

Total Hours 25 Joined 29 August 2024 Last Check-in 13 December 2024

Personal Biography
Dylan is a university student with a keen interest in politics and political history. He spends a large amount of his spare time researching and viewing political articles and commentaries. He additionally has an interest in aviation, and has had a number of flying lessons in the past, with the hopes of gaining a private pilot’s licence sometime after graduating from University.

He has recently transferred within University from studying a Bachelor of Philosophy, Politics, and Economics, to studying a Bachelor of International Relations. He has begun volunteering at Connecting Up to hone his interpersonal skills, as well as being able to contribute to the community and gain valuable connections.

Dylan hopes to eventually work within the public sphere - whether that be within policy or in a government department.

Image: Elevator pitches with the team: Alex Thi Ngoc Bich-Nguyen, Dylan, Rex Porter, Kurinji Arivazhagan, Aaron Xuefeng Li, Jason Chun Kwan Lam and Jacinta Jiawei Qi 1 November 2024

More Elevator pitches with the team: Shoaib Khalid, Estefania Perez Carvajal, Alexander Bull, David Webb and Dylan 13 November 2024

Work experience - Internal and External Events, Connections and Networks

Volunteers and interns are encouraged to attend monthly SAcommunity Team meetings, Connecting Up staff meetings, as well as quarterly all-staff Infoxchange Town Hall meetings to understand more about the organisation as a whole.

Organisation-wide news, events and projects are communicated through the staff channels, with weekly CEO Updates from David Spriggs. Informal 'Lunch and Learn' educational sessions, and network meetings create connections with staff. Whilst peer-to-peer training or capacity building and telephone techniques training allow for networking with other volunteers. Volunteers are also given opportunities to attend stakeholder and partner events as they arise.

Relevant meetings and training sessions Dylan has attended include:

Telephone Techniques Training Todd Guanhua Tao practices his council call with Dylan 29 November 2024

Infoxchange Lunch & Learn - International Day of Persons with Disability - Shane Brand 29 November 2024

Digital Training & Development
Volunteers and interns have access to the Connecting Up Digital Learning Centre providing live webinars and recorded webinars, workshops and webcons presented by subject-matter experts to understand more about a range of technology topics for the not-for-profit sector.

Relevant training sessions were selected, attended, summarised and assessed by Dylan to look at how these sessions can enhance his volunteering experience, and have included:

AI For Social Impact - Ryan Harrington

AI should be used more to increase productivity than replace work as, in its current state, it can show signs of biases and can often make up unsupported evidence or claims as a result of its reliance on human learning. The speaker, Ryan Harrington, implies that whilst AI will be, and in some cases is currently, crucial to productivity, it can also come with a host of additional concerns. I found this webinar engaging due to the continued relevancy and importance of the topic it covers.

SAcommunity Team with Yong Kheng Beh who came to speak with the team about her recent experience in her job interview and now her new employment role 25 October 2024