Webster Works at Paddle for Cancer

Webster Geneva Campus students have volunteered for the English Speaking Cancer Association (ESCA) Dragon Boat Festival in the small Swiss village of L'Abbaye, located in the Jura-Nord Vaudois region, for the last seven years. The Dragon Boat Festival is ESCA's major fundraising event and is attended by around 3,000 people. 32 undergraduate student leaders and study abroad students volunteered to help at the festival this September, which is Webster Works Worldwide's main volunteering event from the Geneva campus. Webster students provided logistical support to event organizers and some even had a chance to try out the dragon boats and joined teams competing in the races.

Michael Artigues, study abroad student, explained, “The weekend was filled with work and it was satisfying because of the cause we were volunteering for. It was also an incredible bonding experience — I’d do it again with the same people in a heartbeat.”

Anaita Azizi, Webster Geneva sophomore student leader said, "Many of the Webster student leaders are already used to the volunteering, however the ESCA festival is a completely different experience to the events we usually work on. I registered participants with woman who was cured from cancer and she started a support group to help people who still suffer from it. It was great to get spend time with students I barely talk to at university, as well as making new inspirational friends. I got this and so much more from the ESCA festival: valuable experience, feeling of appreciation and admiration."

Nicola Bowers, the main Volunteer Coordinator at the Dragon Boat Festival said, “We had another amazingly successful Paddle for Cancer and we couldn’t have done it without the Webster team! I am always overwhelmed by everyone’s hard work and dedication. The students were all so polite and willing to help and I am hoping they will look back with pride and enjoyment that they were a part of the event.”