A handful of people showed up on a blustery Friday evening for the Katimavik group's open house.
The event was a chance for people in the community to meet the volunteers and understand a bit more about the program, said Megan Taylor, the project's leader.
“There's a lack of knowledge about what they do so it's just an opportunity for anyone who's interested to come in, meet the volunteers,” she said.
The latest edition of the program began about three weeks ago and runs until the end of June.
There are three aims of the program: integrating into a new community; becoming better citizens; and learning about teamwork and cooperation.
The volunteers — youth aged 17 to 21 — come from all parts of Canada and spend several months in the community volunteering 35 to 40 hours a week at several different community organizations. Of the current group, none of them, save for Taylor, the project leader, is from Alberta.
Catherine Brown, from Toronto, said she wanted to participate in the program to experience a different part of Canada.
“I was also interested in volunteering in different communities and just taking a break from school to go do something I thought was giving back,” said the university student.
Brown, who is volunteering at Olds High School, said everyone there is very supportive.
“It's a very good community. Everyone's very supportive and we've gotten a lot of offers … of things that we can do,” she said.
Brown said she hopes to get some practical experience in environmental studies, her chosen field of study.
“I'm really hoping to network with people from Alberta,” she said.
Max Armstrong, who graduated from high school in Ottawa last year, said he wanted to take a year off before going on to post-secondary studies. Armstrong said he investigated several similar overseas volunteer programs, but chose Katimavik because it is relatively inexpensive compared to other programs.
Armstrong said he was also interested in seeing other parts of Canada.
“In general, I want to generally just kind of broaden my horizons,” he said.
Armstrong is volunteering his time at Horizon School.
“I love it. It's honestly like the best job I've ever had. Working with the (students), they're just so excited about everything and it's just so infectious you can't help but get excited yourself,” he said.
