Every Friday afternoon, freshman Nicole Carroll will walk the 0.3 miles from campus to go volunteer at All Children’s Hospital. While this is close to campus, it has nothing to do with classes, Carroll decided to do this on her own.
“I always wanted to volunteer at a hospital, but back home it is not as convenient for me to get to but here it is right there,” Carroll said.
She has been going through the process to be a volunteer since October. There have been information sessions, applications, interviews and even getting blood drawn to get to this point. As a volunteer, she will be talking to the families and spending time with the children.
“They’re going through a pretty rough time. Just to have somebody to take their minds off of everything they’re going through. As a child you see a nurse and you know it’s going to be hospital related, but you see a volunteer and you know it isn’t going to be something painful,” she said.
Carroll is double majoring in psychology and criminology, but still believes this could help her in the future as she will learn to work with children.
Carroll’s first day on the job went well.
“I thought it was awesome. I was honestly expecting to be a little bit more socially awkward because that’s just who I am as a person, but it wasnt too bad,” Carroll said.
She spent the day with a four year old making Play-Doh animals.
“She was adorable, I love her. She had so much energy,” she said.