At the tender age of 16, Anya hasn’t yet held down a paying job – but she nevertheless boasts an impressive résumé, thanks to her volunteering.

The Grade 11 student at St. Aloysius Gonzaga Secondary School has been helping out at Mississauga libraries since 2006, in part to fulfill the 40 hours of community activity that are required to receive a diploma at Ontario secondary schools.

“I kept volunteering because it gave me a sense of purpose and commitment. It gave me something to do with my time,” she says. “Plus, it looks goods on my résumé. And, considering I haven’t worked before, it’s pretty much my whole résumé.”

In addition to the library, she has also helped out at the Rock the Coliseum Concert in downtown Mississauga and the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation/Telus Walk to Cure Diabetes in Streetsville.

She believes that her time spent helping out at libraries – most recently, at the Streetsville branch – has helped her develop time management skills. “I have grown to appreciate the benefit of libraries,” she adds. Anya assisted in the running of a library by doing things such as shelving holds and sorting magazines. It has made her grateful that such a valuable resource is available to everybody for free, and she’s proud that she has been able to contribute to that.

Anya doesn’t plan on stopping her volunteering any time soon. While education is still her main priority, she plans to branch out from libraries and seek other volunteering opportunities in the Streetsville area.

“Some people my age have their extracurricular school activities, I have volunteering. It’s just that little something extra everybody should put in to their community,” she says.