Many students at De Soto High School are involved in after-school activities that they are passionate about. Sophomore Aspen Grieshaber, however, spends a lot of her free time participating in volunteer activities.

“I volunteer for Bridging the Gap which is a parenthood-type organization that has different types of [activities]. I [also] volunteer for Kansas Wildlife, so I go and cut down honeysuckle so it can let plants and trees prosper because sometimes the honeysuckle will surround it too much. I also do Ronald Mcdonald house. I [will] go and make dinner for them some nights. I’ve also done volunteering at animal shelters and stuff like that,” Grieshaber said.

Grieshaber started volunteering to help her economy, community and herself.

“It all kind of just started randomly. I would see it [volunteer opportunities] online, and most of them are random,” Grieshaber said. “Sometimes I just felt like I wasn’t really doing anything to help myself or the economy or my community, so I just really wanted to do something cause it felt like I wasn’t helping anything and I really wanted to but I didn’t know how.”

Grieshaber also has some tips and advice for those who may want to volunteer but are too scared to try it.

“Some people might think it’s dreadful, but it’s not. It’s really fulfilling. The people are so amazing when you do it and everyone is really nice when you go and work for like a Saturday, and it’s just so much fun,” Grieshaber said. “And you get to meet new people and you get connections. If you want to work in a certain field of biology or something, you can get connections with these people who have jobs that you might want, like field biology. It’s really beneficial for you and the economy, and it’s fun.”

Grieshaber is planning on going to Laos and Thailand next summer to help endangered elephants and preserve the culture.