Volunteering at Eureka!

Over the summer I volunteered at Eureka! The National Children’s Museum in Halifax. When I first started volunteering I hardly interacted with the children at all, but now I feel more than capable of meeting and engaging with children.

I have enjoyed volunteering very much, especially meeting children of different ages and from different backgrounds. I found working in the gift shop enjoyable, and learned all about the different aspects of the job from stock take, the paperwork required to make a gift shop run, keeping the shop fully stocked at all times, pricing, and customer interaction. I have also loved working with all the different exhibits, and have found that it has helped me to gain more confidence, particularly to interact with children and their parents.

The Eureka! Shop

I have done so much but, for me, my biggest successes are that I am more confident in myself and I have learned many transferable skills, from making action plans to improving my interpersonal skills, to name but a few. I also feel that my biggest achievement has been being able to work as a part of a team as, again, it has helped boost my confidence both with children and with the Eureka! staff.

I also feel that I can use these experiences in the future to help me with my autism. I have loved working at Eureka! as I found the environment calming and safe. I hope that the time I have spent at Eureka! and the experiences that I have gained will help me progress along the career path that is right for me. All the staff have been extremely friendly and helpful.

Eureka! is a fun and friendly place to work, and I highly recommend this experience to anybody else thinking about volunteering.

Michael Harris, Eureka! volunteer