Amazing Community. Amazing Conversations. Amazing Learning Experience.

Volunteering at the Excellence Center has undoubtedly been one of the best experiences in my life. Not only was I able to start to learn German and help others learn English, but I grew in ways that I wasn't expecting. I learned so much about cross cultural communication, teaching skills, and a lot about the English language as well. Everyone at the center was wonderful. The director and staff were very welcoming. The other volunteers were incredibly dynamic. The students were very interested to learn.

I was volunteering during the off season (aka not the summer) so there where only a couple other volunteers at the time and each of us had a handful of students. I am sure that the peak-time of the summer is great, but I really enjoyed the small number of volunteers and students during late winter period. With relatively few people, it was easy to feel comfortable and to get to know everyone well.

Each day there was plenty of time to tutor others, lesson plan, get tutored and chat with others at the center. The pace of the experience was perfect. I appreciated the freedom that we had to develop lesson plans as we saw fit for each of the students. The director and Center's staff put a lot of trust in each of the volunteers ability to teach effectively while at the same time, they were always available to provide support, resources and advice on tutoring when needed.