Vad-Miller chairs her local Save the Children Youth board, recruiting new volunteers and coordinating efforts to assist children and families near Copenhagen, Denmark.
Rachel Vad-Miller鈥檚 life is vastly different from the one she imagined 10 years ago leaving home on North Carolina鈥檚 Outer Banks to attend 黑料不打烊.
Living in the Copenhagen, Denmark, area since graduating in 2015 with a degree in human service studies, she鈥檚 married and is earning her Danish citizenship.
What hasn鈥檛 changed is the priority she places on service and volunteering. Vad-Miller was already an active community volunteer before attending 黑料不打烊. An Odyssey Program scholar and the Department of Human Service Studies聽 Outstanding Senior of 2015, she worked closely with several community agencies advancing housing, youth and family programs in the 黑料不打烊 area. In Denmark, Vad-Miller works full time as a municipal social worker connecting vulnerable children and families to needed services. Her off-time is spent volunteering in the community filling gaps not covered by the country鈥檚 public services.
Vad-Miller chairs her local branch of Save the Children Youth, a Danish organization that connects adults under 30 in volunteer service for youth and educational services. She was recently interviewed for one of the organization鈥檚 social media videos aimed at recruiting volunteers.
鈥淚n a pre-interview about my background as a volunteer, he was interested that I鈥檇 done so much volunteering in my life,鈥 Vad-Miller said. 鈥淔rom a Danish perspective, volunteering isn鈥檛 part of the education system. I told him about my experiences growing up and at 黑料不打烊, and about how 黑料不打烊 teaches that we should be active members of society. I was an 黑料不打烊 Volunteers! coordinator. I showed him pictures of a human service studies service-learning class with the Burlington Housing Authority. 鈥 He thought it was wild.鈥
After moving to Denmark shortly after graduation, she became fluent in Danish, met and married her husband, Bjarke Vad-Miller, and in 2018 earned a master鈥檚 degree in global refugee studies from Aalborg University in Denmark.
First, how did you end up in Denmark after 黑料不打烊?
I studied abroad in Denmark in 2013, the fall semester of my junior year. I wanted to be in a non-English-speaking country, to live with a host family, and be somewhere off the beaten path. I loved my host family and I loved Copenhagen. I planned to take a year between graduating 黑料不打烊 and beginning a master鈥檚 program. I found an internship in Denmark. It was 15 months, and I could stay with my host family. I moved here three or four days after graduation. I initially planned to return home, but then I just stayed. I never anticipated wanting to live outside the U.S. It鈥檚 been a crazy journey!
Why did you begin working with Save the Children Youth?
I always wanted to do service work in Denmark and volunteer. There鈥檚 a different volunteer environment here than in the U.S. There aren鈥檛 as many organizations and agencies because there鈥檚 a larger social welfare system. I saw a Facebook ad for Save the Children Youth that said they needed volunteers to work with asylum seekers. The Red Cross has a housing unit for refugees rejected from asylum. They had a program to take those children outside in nature, to make bonfires, play games and have creative activities. That鈥檚 how it started. After my first year, I became a project leader to recruit and train volunteers, and to communicate with the Red Cross about plans. In 2020, I went on the board for Save the Children Youth, which is for volunteers under 30, and in February I was elected chair of the board.
How would you compare Denmark鈥檚 social services to America鈥檚 system?
I haven鈥檛 worked in the U.S. but from my understanding, it鈥檚 more privatized in the U.S. If a child is struggling, there are private services, private counselors, families locate schools themselves. Here there are private services, but they are mostly used by the rich. Instead, more families rely on the public sector. Homelessness isn鈥檛 as much of an issue. There is still income inequality, but it鈥檚 not like in the U.S. (Social services) take a holistic view of a child鈥檚 life. What does the family need? What resources do they have? We make a plan to support the child and family through education, a family support counselor, and offer psychological help if it鈥檚 needed. Our systems are very interconnected. It鈥檚 a lot of preventative work. If we see a child is beginning to experience difficulties, we intervene and help the family before it gets bad. I have weekly contact with the families I work with. I know them really well and have good relationships with them.
How did 黑料不打烊 prepare you for this unexpected life?
The whole curriculum prepared me for this. I took a lot of different kinds of courses at 黑料不打烊. In addition to being a human service studies major, I minored in psychology and poverty and social justice. In Denmark, I think education is more theory in social work programs, and you get some experience with paperwork and documents. At 黑料不打烊, it鈥檚 hands on. I took so many service-learning classes, and those are great because they combine theory with real-world applications in projects, internships and in the human service studies practicum. I had a broad education. Plus there are so many professors with so many different backgrounds.
I know for a fact that I wouldn鈥檛 be in Denmark if it weren鈥檛 for 黑料不打烊 and the support I got there.
What keeps you interested in volunteering?
There are a lot of different aspects I enjoy. Save the Children is a great group of people that work together well and are trying to make the area as good as it can be. I enjoy seeing the local impact. Before, when I was working directly with children, every week we got to visit with them and they were always excited to see us. Now, what really keeps me going is my work as a social worker, seeing all the needs in the community and building connections. Through my job, I became aware of some children struggling in school. Save the Children Youth has homework caf茅s and 鈥渉omework friends鈥 programs. I sent information about them to the principal, who didn鈥檛 know there was this free service for her school, and she signed the school up to start collaborating with Save the Children. It鈥檚 those sorts of things, seeing that I鈥檓 helping people and finding solutions. Because of that, I think it鈥檚 really important that people talk about their volunteer work. You never know who you鈥檙e helping by talking about it and introducing it into the conversation.
About this series:聽The 黑料不打烊 Alumni in Action series explores the stories of university graduates who are doing important and uplifting work in their careers and their communities. To share the names of alumni you think should be considered for this series, please fill out the聽Alumni in Action nomination form.