By Anna Lise Burnstein
Jennifer Curran has been volunteering her time to community organizations since she was “a wee little girl” in St. John’s, Nfld. When the 31-year-old started law school at the University of Ottawa three years ago, a friend told her that she would be too busy to keep volunteering. Curran was busy, but that didn’t keep her away from the work that she finds so rewarding.
Curran now sits on the community board of Immigrant Women Services. The board works on policy and planning, what Curran calls the “nuts and bolts stuff” that isn’t particularly glamorous, but very rewarding. She also volunteers as education coordinator at the Legal Education and Action Fund.
Volunteering, Curran says, became more meaningful once she was able to integrate what she was learning at school into her practical work.
“You learn what your academic stuff is going to mean in a real world context,” she says.
“I don’t know if (law students) are thinking as broadly as they could about what lawyers could be doing in their communities. If lawyers and doctors are valued for their education, and we certainly compensate them adequately for that, there should be a sense of social responsibility that goes with that.”
And for those who hope to become doctors or lawyers someday, volunteering is becoming more of a requirement than a choice.
Stéphane Émard-Chabot, an assistant dean at the University of Ottawa, says volunteer experience can separate two applicants with similar grades and backgrounds.
“It would be very difficult to get into law school without extra-curricular experience,” he says, adding that volunteer experience shows leadership ability and a commitment to community, qualities that he believes every good lawyer should have.
“We’re looking for exceptional people,” Émard-Chabot says. “A lot of it’s based on who they are and what they’ve done outside of school.”
When the law school reviews an applicant’s profile it looks for a consistent record of volunteering, sometimes even looking back as far as high school.
And getting into law school is harder now than ever before, which means that applicants will need even more extra-curricular experience to set themselves apart.
This year, the school accepted 200 students out of about 3,000 applications.
Denis Vadeboncoeur, administrative assistant in the admissions office at the University of Ottawa’s faculty of medicine, says applicants won’t get an interview unless they have volunteer experience.
Because medical school is so demanding, it is important to see if applicants can handle outside responsibilities in addition to academics, he says.
Sara Labib, 20, hopes to be one of those lucky students to get an interview. The third-year biology student at the University of Ottawa wants to be a pediatrician, and has been a volunteer at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario since she was in Grade 10.
She started volunteering because she likes working with kids, but then she learned to love the hospital environment and thought maybe she could make a career out of it. Now she realizes her volunteer experience will improve her chances of getting into medical school.
“You need the volunteering to show that you’re well-rounded and can handle the pressure,” says Sheryn Kirkpatrick, 21, Labib’s classmate and study partner.
Curran worries that the students in law school with less extra-curricular experience will have a narrower vision of what it means to be a lawyer once they graduate.
Someone who wants to work in criminal law, for example, may come in contact with people on social assistance, or who have mental illnesses.
School will teach many things, says Curran, but not the social skills needed to deal with those kind of sensitive situations.
It’s important for teenagers and young adults to volunteer, Curran says, whatever their ambitions. The key is getting them hooked on doing something they enjoy.
“A huge part of it (for youth) is wanting to be taken seriously,” she says. Volunteering is a good way for teenagers, in particular, to earn respect and a sense of self-worth, she adds. “Once you’re there, it’s very rewarding. You get so much done.”