April Spotlight: Christine Ellis
“The Red Cross has a sea of wonderful people who volunteer and are willing to bring you into their community and help you make it yours,” says Christine Ellis, Academic Service Learning Volunteer & Graduate Nursing Student at Gonzaga University.
Academic Service Learning (ASL) is an exciting program through which colleges and universities partner with organizations such as the American Red Cross, and serves as an opportunity for students to apply what they have learned in the classroom to real-life community settings. While ASL is typically a requirement for nursing majors, any high school or college student can participate! ASL spans all lines of service, and includes activities from becoming a blood donor ambassador, to teaching community CPR. Click here to get a more in depth look at Academic Service Learning.
Christine officially began her Red Cross volunteer journey in October of 2019, and began working on her ASL project in January of 2020. She works with Health Services as a Graduate Nursing Student. Through her university, she partners with Service to the Armed Forces (SAF) on a project for our local Air Force base. Christine conveys that ASL has allowed her to connect with other volunteers, as well as find future opportunities that provide for an array of community needs. Along the same lines, she notes that the sheer dedication of Red Cross volunteers is what inspires her to continue working with ASL.
So far, Christine has gotten to meet several retired nurses. She especially appreciates their willingness to volunteer their time and continue to care for their communities. Additionally, working with veterans and seeing the impact the Red Cross can have on the military and veteran communities makes her work extra meaningful.
Christine encouragingly notes that there are “so many projects and places to find a passion within the Red Cross,” making her growing passion and love for the work of the Red Cross community all the more apparent.
Thank you, Christine, for your commitment to the American Red Cross through ASL!
– Varsha Vasu, National Youth Council Member, Communications Working Group Lead
