VCE FAQ

We’re so glad you want to get involved in a volunteer project! We encourage you to check out our KnightConnect to learn more about upcoming service opportunities offered through VCE, VUCF, ABP, and Community Connectors.

Most of our service events require pre-registration, we ask that volunteers pre-register through our KnightConnect in order to give our community partners an accurate count of volunteers. Signing up for our events is as simple as logging into KnightConnect, selecting a service project, and finally, signing up.

Once you sign up for a program, we ask that you commit to completing the project. If you have an emergency that will keep you from attending, please be proactive as soon as possible to inform the event organizer. If you can no longer attend the program, we ask that you change your registration status on KnightConnect and contact the event organizer so we can accept a volunteer off the waitlist.

Our programs are organized by UCF students and are typically only for UCF students. If you are a non-UCF student who wants to volunteer, we invite you to reach out to our team to discuss the logistics of your participation.

Yes, we have a variety of student leader positions available through VCE! In addition to the leadership positions through Volunteer UCF and the Alternative Break Program, we have positions available through our Community Connectors, Knights Vote, and RSO Service Council programs. As these positions become available, we’ll post updates on our website and on KnightConnect with position descriptions

If you complete volunteer hours through Volunteer UCF or the Alternative Break Program, our student leaders are responsible for including your hours in KnightConnect for tracking.

Please refer to our reference page(insert link) to better understand how to track volunteer hours on KnightConnect. If you have any questions about this process, please contact volunteerism@ucf.edu.

If you completed volunteer hours through a Registered Student Organization, the leaders of that organization are responsible for tracking hours on your behalf.

If you completed volunteer hours through a non-UCF affiliated organization, you will be responsible for tracking your hours on KnightConnect.

Please refer to our reference page to better understand how to track volunteer hours on KnightConnect. If you have any questions about this process, please contact volunteerism@ucf.edu.

For most of our volunteer programs, you do not need additional training or experience to serve. VCE partners with community leaders to develop programs that are accessible for most of our student volunteers.

Some specific volunteer programs require specific training or experience that will be marked in the event description. Some of our community partners will require a background check prior to service. While VCE is unable to facilitate background checks on behalf of community organizations, your volunteer leader will be in touch with you to begin the process.

If you need special accommodations to volunteer, please reach out directly to our office by emailing _____________ and volunteerism@ucf.edu.

Yes! VCE offers a variety of events, including educational events. You can check out our Knightconnect page to learn more about these upcoming programs.

No, VCE does not currently offer transportation to all our events. We offer transportation to most of our big days of service (including, Knights Give Back, Pegasus Palooza Day of Service, MLK Day of Service, and Spring into Service), but we do not offer transportation to our smaller events. Sometimes, participants within these programs carpool to these projects, but that is organized by the students individually. VCE is not responsible for organizing carpooling to events.

We love helping students find connections between their professional interests and community engagement. Depending on your major, we can likely connect you with meaningful volunteer opportunities that will help you along your professional path. We encourage you to meet with our Community Connector team. You can schedule an appointment here!

Our Community Connector program is designed to work with students who want to complete on-going volunteer work with a community partner. We think this program is perfect for students who want to volunteer consistently while also benefiting from support from our office. We encourage you to sign up for a Community Connectors consultation by clicking here!

Our VCE pro-staff team is excited to introduce the RSO Service Council in the Fall of 2023. The goal of this council is to support student leaders who oversee these organizations while providing additional opportunities for collaboration, resource sharing, and professional development.

We are currently seeking organizational leaders to join this council. Qualified council members will lead service-based organizations (or, organizations that have volunteerism and community engagement at the core of their organization’s mission). In the first year, council meetings will be run by the Volunteerism and Community Engagement professional staff. Throughout the year, we’ll identify 2 council members to serve as the co-chairs of the council. The council will meet 3 times a semester and will focus meetings on resource sharing and collaboration.

If you are interested in joining this council, please reach out to Amanda Dever and fill out our interest form here. We look forward to collaborating with you!

VCE is unable to facilitate background checks on behalf of community organizations. However, if your organization runs internal background checks, or uses a third-party entity, we can communicate this requirement to volunteers before committing to the opportunity.

OSI prides itself on being student-led and student oriented. Therefore, most of VCE’s programs are planned and facilitated by students with the support of our professional staff team.

We prefer that community and campus partners request volunteers as early as possible, with a minimum of three weeks in advance. Because our students oversee coordinating volunteers for our partners, we want to give them the most amount of time possible to coordinate gathering volunteers effectively.

VCE is structured to support volunteerism and community engagement for UCF students. Though we appreciate the role of philanthropy in community engagement, we try to focus our efforts on both direct and indirect service. If you have a project idea that you’d like to discuss, however, we’d love to connect with you. Feel free to schedule a meeting with our team by clicking here.

VCE is unable to facilitate background checks on behalf of community organizations. However, if your organization runs internal background checks, or uses a third-party entity, we can communicate this requirement to volunteers before committing to the opportunity.

This depends! Our students have varying degrees of availability and opportunity to engage with service opportunities throughout the year. When sharing service opportunities with students, we ask that you share both minimum and maximum capacities for volunteers for your event and we will try our best to meet these needs.

VCE’s large scale events are opportunities for UCF students to volunteer at multiple community partner sites across the Greater Orlando area at the same time. These events typically include Pegasus Palooza Day of Service, Knights Give Back, and Spring Into Service. If your organization is interested in hosting students during one of these events, please contact Shemeca Smith, VCE Coordinator, , VCE Graduate Assistant, and , VUCF Special Events Coordinator.

Students are mostly available to volunteer while classes are in session during the Fall and Spring semesters. A smaller portion of our students are also present and available to volunteer during the Summer semester as well. Please visit UCF’s Academic Calendar for more information about when classes are in session.

We’re excited that you want to connect with UCF. Though we don’t have an AmeriCorps program on campus, we strive to be a hub of engagement for AmeriCorps partners to connect to students on campus. Feel free to schedule a meeting with our team to discuss next steps. We’d also like to encourage you to join the Central Florida Service Collective, which meets once every other month. This group is comprised of AmeriCorps and university partners. To learn more about that group, please click HERE.

You can reach out to any of our staff members via the emails listed under the About Us page.

Students looking for a large quantity of pre-professional service hours have several options that can help them fulfill this requirement through VCE. Students can send inquiries to volunteerism@ucf.edu or come to our office! Our staff and students are excited to speak to any student looking for community engagement opportunities.

That’s amazing news! To get more information about how to connect with community partners in the Orlando area and beyond, please reach out to our professional staff to set up a meeting using this Calendly link.

Yes! Requests for classroom presentations can be sent to volunteerism@ucf.edu. If a member of our team is available at the requested time, we will be more than happy to share these opportunities with your class/program.

To partner with VCE on an upcoming project, please sign up for a meeting with professional staff using this Calendly link. We would be happy to discuss what a partnership could look like!