Isis Weaver

For this volunteer opportunity, I helped out at a conference that was held in the Scheidt Family Performing Arts Center at the registration desk in the lobby. From what I understand, the sessions throughout the conference were presentations of research that was done on various topics relating to how music is relevant and related to different aspects of life. I was excited about that concept and the possibility of getting to sit in on a session, but I ended up with a shift at the registration table. I got there in the afternoon so most people had already picked up their name tags, but I was able to tap into my knowledge of the building as a music major to help direct people who didn’t know where a room is that they needed to get to. I did have to be flexible throughout the shift because the volunteer coordinator wasn’t given that much information and was learning as he goes so we had to stay observant and do our best to help people with the info that we had. This service impacted the a2ru conference by ensuring that the registration desk was covered and that there was someone available in the lobby to assist the people in need. This service opportunity impacted me by teaching me to stay flexible and adapt to my situation. It also gave me the opportunity to meet and interact with people I don’t usually get to meet. I also chatted a little bit with the dean of the College of Communication and Fine arts. So it was great for networking even though that wasn’t apart of the plan.

I attended the senior bridge walk event on April 24th outside of the rec center and performed with the mighty sound of the south pep band to help celebrate the graduating seniors. The pep band’s job is to perform live music for basketball games, as well as various UofM events. One thing I learned about myself through this is that so much of what we do as a band is about community. We’re present at events to hype people up and bring people together. Not only that, we bond with the people in our sections and have so much fun together. I think this is why band means so much to me and why I’m such an active member. One thing I learned about others is how much band means to our director Dr. Augusto. It was the last gig of the semester and afterwards he bought us all pizza and later sent us a message of appreciation for our willingness to participate in the gig. I never really think about what band means to the directors and honestly, I have a habit of taking the band directors for granted since they’re always there no matter what, but after this gig I realized that not only does he love his job, but he also has a lot of love for the members of the band, especially the ones that show up consistently. What I enjoy most about doing this gig is getting the opportunity to spend time with my peers one last time before finals and the end of the semester. We always have some downtime to goof off and when it’s time to do our job we give it our all. The energy we give to the music in our playing and dancing really added to the celebratory energy of the event and made it super special for the graduating seniors that were a part of the band that attended the event. I’ve had a great year of participating in the athletic bands here and I’m excited to do it again next year!

I volunteered to participate in the pep band at the Press Conference for the new Women's Basketball coach, Hana Haden on April 1rst, 2026. It took place on campus at the Elma Roane Fieldhouse, and we were there for about an hour and 20 minutes. As a member of the pep band, our job is to play the school song and some fun pep tunes to raise the energy in the room, add to the special moments during the event, and fill in moments where nothing's going on.
The pep band works for the athletics department and we show up to mainly basketball games to keep the energy going, hype up the fans, and support our teams. We also participate in various events for those teams such as pep rallies and press conferences.
One thing I learned about myself is that participating in the pep band really adds so much to my life. The social aspect of bonding with the section really enhances my social life, and makes me look forward to seeing them again at games and events we have. This makes me want to participate in the volunteer events more too, and showing up to those feels good because they know that most people won’t. I know how important the pep band is in every event we’re present at so showing up to those gigs makes me feel like I’m contributing to something and I love that feeling. I also love the variety that pepband adds to my life; I get to go out and experience basketball games and go to different off campus locations where our different events take place.
I also learned about other people that the members of the pep band have really bonded because of the time we spend with each other and the fun experiences that go with it. Most of us have spent a heck of a lot of time together in marching band so by doing pep band together we get to continue that bond. I also learned that the pep band really impacts the energy of the fans. At basketball games we do a lot of chants and when we do that the fans tag along and help bring the energy to what’s happening in the game. The pep band takes the initiative to hype up the stadium, and this helps support our team immensely.
I enjoyed being able to see my friends again, because I usually never see most of them outside of games and gigs we have to do. The social aspect of it is honestly the best part for me. On top of that, I really enjoy playing fun tunes and doing cool dances.
I think our presence really added to the meaningfulness of Hana’s moment and we made it more special for her. We played the school song when she walked in and walked out, and helped make an important moment out of her presence. We also played a couple of short tunes while the audience was showing up to add excitement to the event. I think if we weren’t there the event would lose its University of Memphis flavor, and just be a formal event.
I definitely look forward to marching band in the fall and I may very well participate in the pep band again next year too. Participating in volunteer opportunities that come from being a band member I find to be meaningful ways to contribute to the community.

On February 7th, 2026, I volunteered at the high school honor band event that the school of music hosted. I was just an extra rehearsal monitor for the blue band, so I sat in the audience while they rehearsed their music with the clinician. I was volunteering for the band department of the Schiedt School of Music and their mission statement is as follows;
“The mission of the Rudi E. Scheidt School of Music is to serve as an incubator of talent, ideas, and creative work that will shape the future of music making. Anchored in the culturally rich and musically vibrant city of Memphis, our programs are designed to inspire, train, and launch sustainable careers for musicians, scholars, educators, and industry professionals. Through an immersive and forward-thinking curriculum, world-class facilities, and extensive community partnerships, the School provides unparalleled opportunities for students and faculty locally and globally.”
Something I learned about myself is that I’m always so eager to be engaged in helping out when I can. For example, when Dr. Plenk was talking to the students about opportunities at our school of music, one of the students asked about the music composition major, and I immediately wanted to talk to them and answer any questions they had from my experience. I didn’t though, because I couldn’t see who it was that asked the question.
Being here for the rehearsal allowed me to learn a lot about how the graduate assistants feel when they have to sit through our rehearsals. They’re always present for every rehearsal, and when they’re not conducting they’re lowkey just sitting there working on their computers. When I was sitting there, I thought about the fact that I could've brought something to do because they didn’t end up needing our assistance for anything.
It wasn’t all that boring though. I enjoyed being able to listen to the music that the high school ensemble was making. They played some really fun sounding music that had some beautiful moments that I enjoyed being present for. It was also refreshing to be on the other end of a rehearsal, where I’m hearing what it sounds like all together instead of just what my part and the people around me sound like.
I honestly don’t think I made that big of an impact through this considering that at the last minute of signing up for the volunteer positions they didn’t need as many people to monitor rehearsals, so I was kind of just an extra person there to observe. I did, however, offer a friendly wave to one of the high schoolers that I recognized because he came and played with us in the stands in the high school marching band event last semester. In doing that I was able to make it a more familiar and welcoming environment for one person.
This is something I wouldn’t mind doing again, because I do enjoy witnessing rehearsals and being a part of our music school’s recruitment events. In the future I might try to be more involved in any way I can and bring something to work on when I’m not needed.

On Saturday, March 21st I volunteered at the Memphis Rox community garden from 10am to 12pm. I helped out with some tasks to clean up the garden. I worked with the lady there to clear the old vines off of the fence so that it can be repaired, and then helped the others clean out dirt and weeds from old bricks so that they can be repurposed. The mission statement of the Memphis Rox Climbing + Community is as follows: “Memphis Rox brings rehabilitation, healing and a renewed sense of hope to challenged communities by providing a climbing facility and programs that foster relationships across cultural, racial, ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds. We exclude no one – regardless of ability to pay”.
One thing I learned about myself doing this is that I love challenging tasks because they're more rewarding than simpler ones. Working on the bricks was slightly boring to me but working on the fence was exciting and felt productive. Another thing I learned about myself is that whenever people ask me questions about what school I go to, where I’m from, what I’m studying, etc, I openly tell them a little bit about me but I don’t think to ask the same thing to those people in that moment. I realized later that I didn’t get to know those people that asked me questions when I had an opportunity. In the future, especially when I want to network, I want to get better at getting to know other new people I meet and build connections. It’s also a good safety precaution if I feel like the person asking me questions is sketchy.
I learned a lot about others doing this because the group that was there working on the garden was a mix of different age groups, including some adults, a couple high school and college kids, and one 7th grader. It was interesting being around the 7th grader because I’ve only really been around adults here at college, so I forgot how younger kids think and behave differently than us. It seems like they love being judgy; they think it’s funny and makes them more cool. I remember when I was in middle school judgement of others mattered a whole lot more to me than it does now, so it makes sense to me. They also love lingering on topics they find funny. When I finished working on the fence, I went to help the others clean out bricks and I was listening to this 7th grade boy talk to two of the highschoolers and I thought to myself how annoying it would be to be around kids this young all the time. I also wasn’t annoyed in the moment though because it just expanded my perspective on the difference between me and age groups younger than me. As I get older I forget that there are more and more people who are younger than me, and I forget what being that age is like. It was nice being around a younger age group for a little bit to refresh my perspective on age, growth, and maturity.
What I enjoyed most about doing this service was working on getting all the thick vines off of the fence. It was so engaging working as a team and figuring out how to get them off and it was so rewarding when we actually managed to get them off.
Doing this work was really helpful because we got a significant amount of the fence cleared so that it can be repaired sooner. Also, the clearing out of the bricks helped them be able to repurpose them for new raised beds. The goal of this garden work is to get it back into condition to be used again after being left alone for a couple years, and the product of what’s successfully grown can be made available to the local community.
I definitely plan to volunteer to do more garden work. I love working with plants and I think that making good produce available for communities that struggle to access healthy food is extremely underrated.

I attended the Cozy for a Cause: Blanket and CareKit making event on campus on December 2nd. It was hosted by Dorothy Day House Memphis. This is a non-profit organization that provides housing for homeless families in Memphis. Not only do they provide housing, the staff works with the families to get them employed and move them into their own homes after a certain period of time. They provide living essentials to the families mostly through volunteer donations, and they’ve made positive impacts on many homeless families in Memphis since 2006. Our volunteering contributed to supplying those families with blankets to stay warm in this cold season.
While participating in this event, I was working with a group of peers from my ACAD class, and I learned that though I feel a bit awkward in a group that I’m not completely comfortable with, I can still get something out of that experience. I was mostly quiet the whole time and I felt kind of shy because I wasn’t as comfortable interacting with them as they were with each other. But the people in the group that knew me less were friendly to me and we were able to make some small connections with each other, and I was able to learn from the friendly girl next to me who was better at blanket making than me. Everyone in the group were all great people to work with, but I think a lot of times I just let my social anxiety get in the way of expressing myself and connecting with other people. Overall, having that shared experience with my peers was great because it got me more comfortable with the people I’ll be working with for the next couple of years, and it made me reflect on how I can overcome my social anxiety to get more out of experiences with others.
What I enjoyed most about this event was eating the food they provided and learning about the positive impacts that Dorothy Day House is making on the local community. When the presenter was talking about all the things they work to achieve for their families, it was really interesting to learn about all the things that are essential to living that I never have to think about because they’ve always been provided to me. It not only makes me appreciate what I have, but it gives me a deeper understanding of things other people are dealing with and allows me to care more about this issue. Learning about causes like this one makes me enjoy the act of volunteering more and makes me more inclined to seek out opportunities to give back to the community in ways that I wouldn’t normally think of.

On Saturday, November 22nd, I volunteered at the community garden at the New Sardis Baptist Church. There, we covered some beds with leaves and pulled up old plants that weren’t gonna come back. The organization that listed this on Volunteer Odyssey was Memphis Street Health, which is student-run (mainly from UTHSC), and their mission is to, “ help those in the community who are underserved and those who are experiencing homelessness”. 
One thing I learned about myself is that I enjoy helping others with tasks because it feels good to be productive, and I love when it’s helpful to others. Also, I find it easy being friendly with new people when we’re working on something together, because I can offer whatever comes naturally in the moment without much social pressure. This has also shown me how it’s easier to connect with people when you’re actually doing activities together. When I feel more involved in an activity, I feel more involved with the people around me. Lastly, I was reminded how much I enjoy gardening, even though it’s been a long time since I’ve actively cultivated one.
In addition, I learned that, in general, people are grateful for helpful people. When you bring good energy to a group, you work well with others, and you’re productive, it’s meaningful to other people. That occurred to me when I was interacting with the lady we were working for/with in the garden, because she was so friendly and grateful for us. I get told a lot in regards to the professional world that being a good person goes a long way, but experiencing that in real life with other people makes that mean more to me.
It was refreshing to get out of the school environment and into nature. I enjoyed working on something to benefit others as opposed to working just for good grades. This experience reminded me of the value in stepping outside of the small world that I’m always focused on and experiencing more of life that’s out there. I kind of enjoyed volunteering here more than at the stadium for the BOA event because it involved more of working with a group as opposed to doing a repetitive task to serve the large number of people. Working with my peers in the garden felt more meaningful because I was making new connections with people, connecting with the earth, and working for a good cause. By preparing the garden for the winter season, my work helped set it up for the next growing season, which will feed local elderly people and anyone who needs assistance accessing fresh produce. Personally I think that access to fresh food is important for everyone to have, so this cause means a lot to me. I will definitely seek out more volunteer opportunities like this that are outside of my norm, and maybe even come back to help in the garden when there’s more work to do.

On October 11 I volunteered at the high school Bands of America competition that was hosted at the Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium. The company that Bands of America comes from is called Music for All and their mission is to, "create, provide and expand positively life-changing experiences through music for all." I worked two shifts throughout the day. The first shift was re-entry monitoring, which was where I helped the security guard make sure everyone entering the stadium had the right credentials. It was a very laid back job, since we only really had to account for people when the security guard went somewhere else. The second job that I switched to was box office helping, where I had to scan people's digital tickets and let them in. This job was a lot more work because it was hands on, continuous, and I had to be able to inform people about how their tickets work.
One big takeaway from working the box office job is that I need to make sure I fully comprehend the info that I have to give people so that I don't misinform anyone. When I was being briefed on the things that I needed to know for the job, it mostly made sense, however I felt like the lady was telling me a lot of things at once and that it might take me some practice really get what it was I had to do and say to people. Luckily, I joined a group of friends that were already there for a while, so they helped me the first couple times so I understood how to scan people's tickets. The other big thing for me was that it felt awkward having to tell people with Prelim tickets that they have to scan both in and out of the stadium if they wanted to come and go during the Prelim events. I said it in so many different ways to different people and since I didn't really know how the events and tickets worked, I accidentally told some people with prelim tickets that they could come back for finals, when that's a completely different event and thus a completely different ticket. I basically lied to some people on accident and I felt really bad for it. Luckily, one of my peers eventually noticed and corrected me, which I'm very grateful for.
Something I noticed about me was that I usually approach a task with confidence, but then shy off whenever I'm corrected or realize that I'm doing something wrong. For example, for the re-entry job, it was just me and the other girl volunteering there as people first started trickling in early, so I had to adopt a bit of confidence in order to direct people or answer their questions. But then in a little bit the security guard lady showed up and then I realized our job is basically supporting what she does because she pretty much handled it. At one point, I asked her a question about the credentials that are allowed in, because the volunteer guy at the start had told me that one of the wrist bands should go through a different gate than ours, but she was just letting them in. I asked a clarifying question since I was confused. She answered my question and then she was like "are you a security guard?" and then was like "I've been working here for x amount of years..." and I couldn't really read her tone but I was worried she thought I was questioning her or something so I was just like "No, I was just clarifying because I was confused" or whatever. I was kind of embarrassed after that so I just hung back and let her do her job and provide support when needed. She was nice to me later though, so it was all good.
While working the box office job, I noticed how other people will heed to you when you give them clear instructions. There was one time that we had a lot of people come in at once and we needed to get them wrist bands so we had them wait in a line to the side, and I just thought it was crazy how we just controlled a bunch of random people, because we're just trying to do our job, and they just wanna comply so they can get in and see the events. But also, if we couldn't decide what to do with the crowd it would've been much more chaotic.
What I enjoyed most from volunteering that day was the moments at the beginning of the box office shift where I got the hang of things and was able to confidently put myself out there to help people get their tickets scanned. I felt great being friendly, helpful, and approachable, and I thought I was doing a great job representing the UofM marching band (we were already in uniform). I think in that way, we upheld a positive reputation for the marching band, which made me feel like I was contributing to something bigger. It also felt really meaningful being around the high schoolers and performing for them and representing my school to the best of my ability the whole time, knowing that it could really help with recruiting new students to our school. If the high school competitions are held at our stadium again next year I think I'll volunteer again now that I know more about the event and what volunteering there is like.