Stan Chernicoff
Seattle, WA
I am a former University of Washington professor who gets bored easily.
Despite retiring with no plans for the future, I managed to find a way to stay busy in my second act: as a self-confessed “serial volunteer.”
As a faculty member, I taught earth and space sciences at UW. Now I, serve on the board of a post-prison education program, lecture at a middle school and teach U.S. citizenship classes to people who are preparing for the exam.
I can’t just sit around and read or play golf. I need to have a certain number of what I call purpose-driven activities. Some of these are easy, one-time activities. Others offer opportunities for irregular involvement. And some, like the citizenship class, require a regular commitment.
I have found that if you put yourself out in the community and have some particular skill or expertise, people will knock on your door. Ultimately, the question that volunteering has helped me answer is, “How do you feel good at the end of the day?” In particular, there’s a dramatic need for those who can help young people, and the stakes are high.
I am a big fan of the University of Washington Encore Initiative, hosted by the UW Retirement Association, which helps retired staff and faculty explore ways to remain involved in the community – both on and off campus. A lot of retirees start off not knowing what they want to do. The UWRA provides resources and consultation to help us figure it out.
Ultimately, I gravitated to the kinds of opportunities that I was passionate about. Unsurprisingly for someone who spent my professional life working with young people, I was drawn to opportunities involving children and schools, although I’ve also become involved in other organizations, too.
Despite the gratifications of teaching and research at a university, I have found my post-retirement volunteer activities to be the most deeply meaningful things I have done in my life.
(Hear Stan Chernicoff talk more about his second act in this video.)