The Extraordinary Community Service Award honors students and student organizations that exhibit the Volunteer spirit in the community.
Student Nurses’ Association
The Student Nurses’ Association is an organization committed to engaging student nurses through professional development, facilitating student-nurse relationships, serving through philanthropy and community service, and growing as future nurses. SNA is committed to conveying the standards, ethics, and skills that students will need as responsible registered nurses.
What does being a Volunteer mean to you? How has UT empowered you to make a difference in a way you might not have imagined elsewhere?
To the Student Nurses’ Association, being a Volunteer means giving your personal time and energy towards a cause bigger than yourself. As nurses, we commit our lives to serving others and our communities. Here at UT, the Volunteer Spirit is a living, breathing entity. By having the symbol of our university be a Volunteer and continuously seeing the shining light of the torchbearer, UT puts the importance of serving others on display for students every single day. We are constantly inspired by the Volunteer Creed, “One that beareth a torch shadoweth oneself to give light to others.” We are not just nurses, we are Volunteer nurses. No other university proudly displays the importance of giving up one’s time for others. Only the University of Tennessee takes such pride in the spirit of being a Volunteer.
Bailey Bohannon
Bailey Bohannon is in the Chancellor’s Honors Program and is a triple major in biochemistry & cellular and molecular Biology, neuroscience, and honors psychology. She has accrued over 500 service hours through leading local and international volunteering opportunities as president of UTK Rotaract and as vice-president of Global Brigades UTK. Bailey has also served as a healthcare worker, taking care of COVID-19 patients during the pandemic.
What does being a Volunteer mean to you? How has UT empowered you to make a difference in a way you might not have imagined elsewhere?
To me, being a Volunteer means not only selflessly dedicating yourself to a greater cause, but it also means walking alongside other Volunteers as a mentor and friend, empowering them in their journey and celebrating their successes.
My passion for honoring the Volunteer Creed began the summer before my freshman year as I participated in Ignite Serves. It was during this time that I learned how impactful and fulfilling dedicating your time and effort to helping others can be. My experiences at UT empowered me to be a mentor to others and help them find the same passion and sense of belonging through service that I found.
Serving as the president of Rotaract UTK and vice-president of Global Brigades UTK has allowed me the opportunity to learn new tools of leadership, such as effective and prompt communication, taking responsibility, and networking with other organizations to maximize our area of humanitarian influence.
Because of the support of the community of Volunteers at UT, I have been emboldened and confident in my abilities to step forward and help in times of uncertainty. During the pandemic, I felt compelled to get more involved in hands-on clinical patient care on the frontlines and I have served by volunteering as a COVID-19 testing site volunteer, UT Medical Center volunteer, and East Tennessee Children’s Hospital volunteer and by working as a Nursing Technician and Medical Assistant taking care of patients with COVID-19.
Because of the University of Tennessee, I have been shaped into a Volunteer. I believe that by honoring the Volunteer Creed, we can exponentially magnify the impact of our efforts. By shadowing ourselves and giving light to others, we prove that we truly are stronger together.
Kaitlyn Daniels
Kaitlyn Daniels – an honors student studying industrial engineering with a double minor in leadership and reliability & maintainability – devotes her time to making her community a better place through volunteering and creating her own outreach events.
What does being a Volunteer mean to you? How has UT empowered you to make a difference in a way you might not have imagined elsewhere?
Being a Volunteer means selflessly working to uplift others in need. The Volunteer’s Creed explains this perfectly when it comes to shadowing oneself to bring light to others in our community. While at the University of Tennessee, I have not stopped working to bring about the betterment of this area and myself. I realized that I am a leader-in-progress and will constantly be working to improve myself as a leader for the sake of my community. I am the elected president of Systers: Women in Electrical and Computer Science Engineering, even though I am an industrial engineering major. By being exposed to this different side of engineering, I have been able to meet like-minded individuals who know what it is like being a woman in the male-dominated field of engineering. I have been able to successfully run this year’s annual outreach event called Little Systers because of this. There are hands-on activities, guest speakers, and demonstrations to get young women interested in STEM by improving their understanding of what a career in engineering can do for their lives. UT has empowered me to look at things from a different angle and from there I was able to increase the participants to include girls in kindergarten through 12th grade. By doing so, the participation skyrocketed from its usual 20 attendees to over 150 participants. This difference allowed for more students to get exposed to STEM. I could not imagine this happening anywhere else because Little Systers is what got me interested in college and engineering. It means the world to me to have been able to share this with future engineers. I hope that my time here will continue to be spent making the community a better and more inclusive environment for all!
Ellysa Groh
Ellysa Groh, a senior from Knoxville, is studying business analytics with a minor in statistics. During her time at UT, she has been involved with the Melton Scholars Program, Alpha Kappa Psi, the Business Analytics Society, and the 1794 Scholars Program.
What does being a Volunteer mean to you? How has UT empowered you to make a difference in a way you might not have imagined elsewhere?
The symbol of a Volunteer stems from the willingness of Tennesseans to serve in the Battle of 1812. Even 200 years later, the meaning remains. Being a Volunteer means to serve a cause greater than yourself and to take on challenges for the betterment of others. UT has provided fantastic opportunities to learn and grow in a variety of environments. It’s through these experiences that I’ve grasped and owned the Volunteer Spirit, an ideal that I will carry with me far beyond my collegiate career.
Amanda Inman
Amanda Inman is the founder/president of Helping Hands, a student organization with over 330 members and responsible for 800+ service hours here on campus. Additionally, she is the director of philanthropy for her sorority, which has raised over $40,000 for Breast Cancer Education and Awareness in just three short months.
What does being a Volunteer mean to you? How has UT empowered you to make a difference in a way you might not have imagined elsewhere?
Being a Volunteer means not only stepping up to enact change but encouraging those around you to do the same. Before coming to UT, I saw being a Volunteer as an individualist term. Since becoming a student, I’ve seen the importance and impact of working with my peers to accomplish our goals. UT has supplied me with both the resources and the confidence to become a leader in the Knoxville community and on campus.
Brandon Solsbee
Brandon Solsbee is a senior studying mechanical engineering from Etowah, Tennessee. He spent the last three years welcoming first-year students to the university as a team leader and student director of the Ignite Serves program and has dedicated time to the VOLBreaks program and the Life Without Limits organization.
What does being a Volunteer mean to you? How has UT empowered you to make a difference in a way you might not have imagined elsewhere?
Being a Volunteer is offering yourself where you are needed by actively listening to the communities you are serving. UT has connected me with an incredible community of servant leaders who I have the joy of calling my dearest friends.
Denee Stewart Freeman
Denee Stewart Freeman is passionate about the arts, youth, and connecting UT students to the greater Knoxville community. She has served in Knox County Schools, independently and through her Americorps position at Girls Inc. On campus, she worked within the Jones Center for Leadership in Service, facilitating service for others.
What does being a Volunteer mean to you? How has UT empowered you to make a difference in a way you might not have imagined elsewhere?
Being a Volunteer means continually expanding your community, through listening and serving. You must challenge yourself to step outside of a bubble and work with the people around you. Volunteers find new connections everywhere they go through service.
Cyrus Yoshimoto
Cyrus Yoshimoto is half-Iranian and half-Japanese. After his parents fell in love in Switzerland, they immigrated to Knoxville to start their life together. He aspires to be a physician to treat patients suffering from serious illnesses, improving the quality of their lives and that of their families.
What does being a Volunteer mean to you? How has UT empowered you to make a difference in a way you might not have imagined elsewhere?
Being a Volunteer means dedication to more than just yourself. It means engaging in the act of caregiving for society, and mankind as a whole. It means going beyond helping those closest to you, even at your own personal expense. In short, it means being human. UT has the unique aura of this Volunteer spirit. During my first few years at the university, I was self-interested, struggling to find values and beliefs that were necessary to living a moral life. After coming out of my shell and speaking to one particular student at UT, my life completely shifted. Now, I am more certain than ever about my purpose. Countless generations of Volunteers before us have fought to make our world a better place. We owe it to them to continue this fight, creating a better society that our future children will be proud of.