Victoria Assenza: English School Volunteer

I’m from France and I’m studying political science at the University of Cape Town. I discovered Scalabrini while doing research for my thesis.
I am currently a volunteer at the English School where I help with administrative tasks in the office and teach English. On top of having gained a lot of experience with teaching, I have learned to work on various projects and to do all types of small and bigger jobs to assist the English school team.

Volunteering at Scalabrini has helped me grow professionally by allowing me to apply my knowledge and develop multiple new skills. On a personal level, this experience has helped me meet and work with a huge diversity of people, from the staff to the clients.

I got to learn more about other people as much as I got to learn about myself.

One of my most memorable moments working at the Scalabrini Centre was the end of the English term when we held a graduation ceremony. The closing of the term felt like an achievement for both the English school team and the clients where you can see that personal/friendly links have been built within the professional/strict environment of a school.

“Working with the Scalabrini team has been a real pleasure. I was given meaningful responsibilities and independence in my tasks. They have been more than welcoming and has trusted me to work on bigger projects with them.”

The orientation during the first week has also strongly helped me feel included to the larger team of the Scalabrini Centre as a whole.