DS15 has been working towards a black belt for years and he’s almost there. Once a student has reached that stage of the training at this studio, the student is given the option of helping out with the training of the students learning lower belts, but it’s not required in order to gain the black belt. DS says at least half of the kids who are working toward a black belt are not helping out with the lower belt classes. IOW, it’s optional.
My son decided to try out teaching with the lower belts and it turns out he really enjoys doing it. He’s now an unpaid teaching assistant for 3 classes per week in addition to doing his own training 3 days per week. He deals with the equipment, shows kids the routines (and weapons if they’re advanced enough), and is a “punching bag” (with padding!) for the self-defense sections. He looks forward to it and I think there’s a bit of the sense of accomplishment that comes from teaching when you were once the student.
I had always thought he would put this down as an EC, but now that he’s doing ~4 hours/week on an unpaid basis, I’m wondering if he can call his own practice an EC and call his assistance with the studio as volunteer work and start tracking hours. OTOH, it’s for a business, so I don’t know. Thoughts?
Yes, he could. Furthermore, it looks good because he is taking his EC to a new level, learning teaching/coaching skills, and showing leadership by setting an example and inspiring younger students. Kudos!
Interesting question and I suppose it depends on where the data is being reported, what the categories are, etc.
My DD15 (who just past her 4th dan Master test (after 10 years…yay)) started as an assistant instructor about 4 years ago. She’s now at the point of teaching classes completely by herself when the school’s GM is busy. I have put TKD on her resume as an activity, with her achievements, and listed her teaching (and self defense course) as a leadership role.
I typically wouldn’t think of it as volunteering, though I can see the train of thought. Assuming it’s the same, he’s paying for classes and one of the expectations of a senior practitioner is training/teaching others.
I guess my reaction would be no, but I can see how others could think it could be included.
Not sure that helps…
Who’s going to argue with her. Not me. She’s a black belt!
Yes, and it shows leadership too!
That’s the rub, I think. He is paying for the classes, but there’s no expectation (but there is a stated opportunity) that he will teach as part of his training and indeed other kids at his level do not and that doesn’t seem to be a problem. He is benefiting from it, though, as are the studio and the students. And it’s a bit of a feeder system for paid assistants when they have openings, but that may or may not come to pass.
Our quandary is is more or less tied to this taking up time that makes it difficult to find more time to volunteer elsewhere. Otherwise, he’d be happy to list in elsewhere on apps. He definitely has other interests that could be turned into more traditional volunteering opportunities such as museums.
@tiny_teapot It all counts. I see your rationale and it is sound. The classes he takes are the EC and the teaching is a volunteer activity. Volunteer is a person who works for an organization without being paid. He is donating his time teaching. If he gets offered a paid job later it would cease to be volunteering and move to employment on the resume
Unpaid volunteer. But not community service.
@lookingforward
That’s a helpful distinction, thank you. I’m not sure how that would impact applications later if he had many volunteer hours but not too many community service hours. I’ve used them interchangeably in the past in different contexts but I can see how the differentiation may be significant here.
It’s easy to add some dedicated comm service, this summer. The point is rolling up your sleeves, doing for the needy. Even small impact is fine, it’s the recognizing needs around you that helps. Even a meal site, once/month for several hours, adds this balance. Depending on his major, there mst be other logical comm things.
Alternately, he could call it an internship.
Definitely not community service as lookingforward said. It sounds like you need to beef up his community service in a more charitable setting but he looks pointy in this activity
An internsip at the martial arts sudio isn’t quite it. You want what’s relevant to the colleges. Though comm service may not seem so, ‘awareness of the needs around you and what you can do’ is. And that sort of show of compassion, in practice. Not just the kids who claim they want to save the world and don’t do anything directly, in their own communities.
I talked with him today and he’s going to think about ways he’d like to contribute as far as community service.