By Jeanine Budd

Julie Miller is double majoring in American Sign Language (ASL) interpreting and human services, and minoring in African American studies. However, she said only 20 percent of her focus is on academics.

She said she devotes the other 80 percent to learning from the people she works with during the hours she spends volunteering at Students for Choice, Peace Games and at the Center of Community Service.

“I’ve learned so much by volunteering,” Miller said. “People really inspire me to keep me going, which is all the motivation I need to manage my time.”

Through Peace Games, a national organization aimed at ending youth violence, Miller teaches a class to local elementary school students once a week. During this time, Miller and her colleagues use problem solving exercises, with team and confidence building activities as tools, to teach the children cooperation.

“The class is only once a week, but I’ve been able to make Peace Games the experience that I want it to be,” she said. “I’ve taken on leadership roles because I love the organization and I love the people that I work with, and I really believe in the mission of the organization.”

Miller’s passion for volunteering began in high school, she said.

“I just randomly went into this elderly home that had been built near my house and asked if I could do anything to volunteer,” she said. “They didn’t really know what to do with me, so I kind of just started hanging out with the residents at this place.”

Eventually, Miller created a volunteer program in her Maryland community for people her age that would allow them to volunteer if they needed hours for service, or if they simply wanted to get involved.

“I feel like a lot of people our age feel like they won’t be good at anything, like they won’t be able to serve anyone if they just show up,” she said. “But really … a lot of elderly people just want someone they can talk to.”

Miller’s next leadership position came when she moved to Connecticut. Miller, whose older sister is deaf, began learning ASL when she was 11 years old. Miller decided to create a few sign language clubs in her community, one of which was called Hand in Hand.

“It was a traveling theatre group for the deaf and hard of hearing,” she said. “We toured it around to … kids in Connecticut, and we really tried to create a feeling of inclusion and accessibility for everyone.”

Miller said she has also learned the importance of communication while working at a few camps for kids with autism, retardation and cerebral palsy.

“I worked with a 9-year-old boy at a camp who had some kind of developmental delay. He wasn’t autistic, but he was nonverbal,” she said. “I feel like he and I made this incredible bond that wasn’t based on words, but was based on play.”

In the future, Miller said she hopes to work with families in crisis.

“More than anything else, I know that people lift each other up,” she said. “So if one person does not have stable support, they might be more likely to fall apart.”