Student Volunteer Making a Difference: Peterson brings theatre to the youth of Farmville

ShaVaughn Peterson is a Longwood University senior theatre major who has invested a lot of his time into volunteer work around the town of Farmville. His work has been greatly appreciated by the Town Planner, Cindy Morris, and the Director of the Recreation Department, William Bailey, as well as the community members and the children that he works with. When speaking about Peterson both Morris and Bailey lit up with enthusiasm for the work he has done. Morris explained that Peterson “is volunteering with the Town and directs all the youth theatre plays.” She went on to say that “everybody just thinks he is awesome.”
Peterson recounted his story of becoming a regular volunteer for the town. It all started at the Longwood Center for the Visual Arts. During the summer of his sophomore year Peterson found himself with lots of time and little to do. “I had a lot of free time on my hands so I walked into town one day and stopped by the LCVA to see if they could use any volunteers, as it turned out they have a children's program every summer that is volunteer supervised so I hopped on to do that to occupy my time while I was job hunting.” This made him a “familiar with a lot of faces in town” so when it came time for him to take on the community project for English 400 he already had a pretty good idea of where he would turn. He knew before starting the class that he wanted to do something that he “was passionate about” which naturally brought him to theatre.
“I did my research, borrowed some money from my aunt, and by the first day of classes I had the scripts, scores, and CDs for The Elves & the Shoemaker.” His English professor was pleased with this idea and soon he met William Bailey. Bailey was all for the idea and helped him get him “space to rehearse and hold auditions.” Bailey explained, “We came together and sat down and created a plan.” He went to schools in the area and soon got himself “a following.”
Peterson strongly believes in what he is doing with the youth of Farmville. “These kids have learned to love theatre and each other.” Peterson stated, “It's absolutely magical watching them together.”
Bailey describes Peterson and his work with the youth program in this way, “He’s an exceptional talent and the things he can teach to children is amazing and how much he has done in bringing this youth theatre program to the town of Farmville.”
Peterson describes himself as an “army brat” that has moved many times but he calls Uniondale, New York his “home.” Peterson remembers the moment he realized theatre was his passion, “I spent the majority of my childhood hell-bent on become a psychologist because helping people made me happy. Theatre and choir had been hobbies of mine but I really didn't invest my soul in it … We did Chicago as our spring musical and something just hit me and I said, "Oh my God, I could be poor doing this the rest of my life and I would be perfectly happy with that." He explained that he realized “with psychology, I would only have been able to help one person at a time, but with theatre I could take entire audiences away from their troubles and into new unthinkable world even if only for two hours at a time.”

Peterson said that his “pride and joy is my children's theatre program.”

Currently he is working on the production of Cinderella Wore Combat Boots. “We bring theatre to the Prince Edward Community free of charge to any kid who will sign up and show up,” Peterson explained. These children, according to Peterson, “now have a gift that, should they choose, they can use and enjoy for the rest of their lives.”
Bailey explained that Peterson is “currently training future directors and theatre students who will take over and keep this program going.” Even though Peterson is bound bigger things he stated, “I'm no where near finished here in Farmville, but seeing the smiles I've brought them I know my work is done.”

Local Needs being Met by College Students

I'm currently in the process of writing an article about the impact Longwood students have on the community and what it is like when they are gone. I had no idea that starting out on this article would lead me to so many different ways that Longwood students give back to the community. I knew the students did volunteer work but it never really struck me as something that would stand out to the community but clearly it does. The services student do was the first thing that the Town Planner told me about when I sat down with her last week. My next blog post will be focused on the impact Longwood students have and what they are doing to give back. For now, I was hoping to hear from you. What kinds of volunteer work do you do around town? How do you think Longwood positively or negatively affects the town? If you would like, post community service ideas in your comments also.

Networking and Non-Profits

Finding ways to help and make a living is difficult especially when you're like me and have big plans to help with very little money to get there. Dr. B, Communications Professor at Longwood, and I were having a conversation a little while ago about what I wanted to do post-graduation. I told him that I wanted to help people here and in other countries. I want to volunteer and change the world in some way. He pointed to my nails and explained that the community service lifestyle won't pay for a french manicure lifestyle. It made me laugh and blush but it got me thinking about how I would make a living and help people. Obviously I would give up my pretty nails to help others but I also have to be able to take of my basic needs. So I'm on the search for non-profit organizations seeking employees. I found a nonprofit network site and was hoping others could send me information on nonprofits they know of or other sites that offer these job listings.