Posted by SLANG on May 24, 2004 at 12:16:04:
In Reply to: Aquarium volunteer diver posted by TDB on May 24, 2004 at 10:32:29:
Hi Tim -
I saw your post and wanted to respond. There are a number of Aquarium divers who post regularly to this BBS, so you'll most likely get other responses as well, but you should know that diving for the AoP DOES become a pretty significant commitment in a lot of ways for most of us who do it. Some, of course, might disagree. There are those who volunteer and find the experience is not quite what they anticipated it was going to be, or didn't realize exactly how much of an impact a commitment of the requested amount of time can have on a busy schedule, and find themselves just getting out once or twice a month. Obviously, this lets down the rest of your assigned team in many ways. No one is going to be able to make every single scheduled assignment, and no one expects you to. However, understand that there are responsibilities that must be covered whether you are there or not, and the rest of your team will have to find some way to cover them when you're not there. And since there is always a need for more divers than we have, if you are on a team's roster, they aren't as likely to have additional divers assigned to the team who will show up, despite the fact they are operating short-handed because you can't make it regularly.
Of course, like so many things, "you get out of it what you put into it." Diving for the Aquarium, and being associated with the organization in general, has been much more enjoyable and fulfilling than I anticipated. There are a lot of good people who contribute to, and take pride in the place. Even though it can sometimes be damn inconvenient, I still look forward to the time I spend there every week. It provides for a lot of fun opportunities, but take a serious look at the commitment before volunteering. If this doesn't scare you off, we could sure use some help on the Monday night team. Good luck.
SLANG