Another caution about allowing people to imprint upon you as an RE volunteer if you’re looking to build a career on teaching.
I used to work for a certain municipality of about half a million at the time. They had a tuition reimbursement program, where they’d reimburse me for half my tuition after I submitted good grades at the end of the semester. I was on my own for books, of course, and it was delayed, but it allowed DH and myself to both pursue advanced degrees (while working full-time) and graduate without debt. (He went to night school, I got my MLS via WebCT from a nearby State school.)
Because the City was helping me with my degree, it was my expectation to stick around and have a good job in the Library Department after I graduated. (One of the conditions of accepting funds was to not leave employment with the City within 2 calendar years of the last time I accepted funds, because they had a lot of trouble with people abusing the program to get the degree, and then go run off into the private sector.) However, there was a hiring freeze, so I stuck around in my department as a secretary, and did volunteer work at a few branches as a way to “give back” in the meantime.
The hiring freeze thawed once-- oops, we have all these Katrina refugee librarians. Let’s absorb them, then refreeze. Then it thawed a second time, and I interviewed for two different positions. I talked about how I had over 100 kids coming to my programs, and blah blah blah. And the branch manager looked me right in the eye, giggled, and said, “You do such good work as a volunteer, Midori. Why would we ever pay you?”
That was September. My 2 years was up in December. By January, I’d gotten a job offer at a library with a municipality 100 miles away, and I started in February.
The City could have kept me, after investing in my education like they did---- but the pertinent management had imprinted on me as “volunteer” and therefore couldn’t justify paying me $35k/year when I was already doing it for free.
Teaching people about God is different— but if you’re planning on doing it for hire, be cautious about keeping your volunteer work and your paid work separate.
(And, in other news, see what employers offer tuition reimbursement as a perk.)