CCC volunteers work to help the woes of students

From work permits to scholarship program information, the College and Career Center is a center filled with a vast amount of resources for students.

Although many may not know, the operations of the College and Career Center (CCC) are run by parents volunteers. These parents do numerous tasks that range from handling work permit applications to setting up college speakers between August and November.

Senior Nicole Borda recently found the CCC to be a useful resource. Having several questions about sending SAT scores, Borda had all her questions resolved after visiting the CCC.

“I found out a lot about the entire college process through all their information,” Borda said. “It was really nice to have a place to go to direct all the questions I had.”

The parent volunteers of the CCC gain pleasure out of their volunteer work.

“I chose to get involved with this job because it was a great way to get more involved with the school as well as learn a lot more about the college process,” said CCC volunteer Christine Van Aken. “It allows me to have a better understanding of students’ lives.”

In addition to immersing themselves and understanding the college process, parent volunteers also get other benefits.

“It’s also one of the few volunteering opportunities at the school,” CCC volunteer Cindy Zuccarino said. “We also get the advantage of being able to listen to the college speakers when they come in.”

In addition, the volunteers work on the registration for PSAT and the mock SAT. They sort out and file mail from various colleges for the CCC, and share scholarship and volunteer opportunities, internships and summer programs on the CCC website.

The volunteers also plan and host Career Day every two years as well as sort out college-and-career-related books for students to check out while assisting the guidance department with packaging various packet to be mailed to students.

The CCC is open between 9:15 a.m. to 2:45 p.m. every school day except Fridays when it closes at 12:40 p.m. There are usually three shifts per day except for Fridays, which have two shifts, with three parent volunteers per shift. Each parent volunteer has one shift per week.

Volunteers do not have to undergo any formal training, although most parents have previous work experience in industry.