For Nick Emili - and thousands of other young people - volunteering is a regular part of his life.
The Kokatha man started volunteering in 2020, when he was in Year 12 at St Paul's College.
Now studying law at the University of Adelaide, Nick continues to volunteer with Edmund Rice Camps SA, a non-profit community charity which provides camps, recreational and developmental activities for children experiencing some form of disadvantage.
He says there is so much to be gained from volunteering, and for him the joy is in seeing the change in the children he works with on camps.
“When they first start out maybe they are quiet and don’t really know their own voice, and through the work you do with them, you get to see this amazing growth, you get to see them have a strong, empowered voice," the 20 year old says.
"It’s just a really wholesome, hearty feeling."
But Nick says it's also the volunteering community that makes him want to continue giving back.
"When you are surrounded by other people who have similar thoughts to you, and similarly want to make a really good impact on the kids, it’s nice," he says.
We Are.SA is shining a spotlight on Nick as part of National Student Volunteer Week, which ends on Sunday 13 August.
The annual event acknowledges and celebrates the thousands of students who give back to their communities and promotes volunteering to children and young people across Australia.
This year’s theme of ‘Give. Grow. Belong.’ taps into a generation who are committed to getting involved with causes they believe in and contributing to positive change.
Nick says he would advise other young people thinking about volunteering to “give it a shot”.
“It's just great experience – obviously it looks great on the resume but beyond that, it’s just something to give back,” he says.
“I’ve come from a fairly privileged background, a lot of people also come from a privileged background, and it’s really good if you can give back to a community space.
“It’s not everyone’s cup of tea, volunteering, but everyone should at least give it a shot - just to see the impacts you can have on the world around you.”
According to the Mission Australia 2022 Youth Survey, 41.6 per cent of young South Australians aged 15-19 volunteered in the previous 12 months.
CEO of Volunteering SA&NT Hamilton Calder says many young people devote their time and resources to causes that positively impact their communities and people’s lives.
“Young people feel compassion for people in need and seek meaningful involvement when they volunteer,” Mr Hamilton says.
“We saw this recently with students from Berri Secondary School especially with the floods that impacted the region, with students out in the community assisting any way they could. It’s important because the whole community saw this and they felt well supported.
“We know that when young people are engaged with and participate in volunteering, they experience increases in their connections to their schools, their communities and increases to their self-esteem, confidence, value, resilience and overall wellbeing.”
Visit the National Student Volunteer Week website for more ideas and resources to help you acknowledge and celebrate with your school community, or to seek out a volunteering opportunity with your child.
For more information on student volunteering in South Australia, visit the Department for Education’s student volunteers page.
