Tate: Nature & Travel Unites the VSC community

As a person with a huge passion for nature, Tate watched nature documentaries when he was growing up and majored in Biology when he was in college. Through his engaging class "What a Wonderful World," Tate weaves together his deep-rooted connection to nature with the members of the Virtual Senior Center.

Connect My Interest in Biology with the Class I’m Teaching

Due to COVID, Tate was restricted by the traditional volunteer opportunities. He started to look for ways to make a social impact virtually and expand communication bubbles. In January 2022, he found the Virtual Senior Center. “It was just post-COVID. There were a lot of restrictions as far as volunteer options go. After a few quick Google searches, Selfhelp was kind of one of the top options. That's how I kind of jumped in.” Tate said.

Tate meticulously crafts each class session. He will spend about an hour preparing the class related to flora and fauna - from identifying a spot and doing a search to deciding what plants and animals to introduce and compiling them into the slides.

When Tate talked about how his Biology degree influences the class topic, he answered:

Click the audio below to listen to how Tate combines them together!

Impressed by the Passion and the Friendship in the Community

One of the most rewarding aspects of Tate's experience at the VSC is witnessing the members' unwavering passion for learning and their eagerness to delve deeper into the natural world. “I have notes on my phone that I scroll through and can read off. But they might have a question that I can't answer.” Their questions challenge Tate to continuously expand his understanding.

Additionally, the friendship among the members of this community also impresses Tate a lot. As he navigates through classes, he observes the bonds forming within the community, where real friendships are formed even though they began in the "virtual" space.

Tate also talked about his favorite memory - a time when he took the class members to the Caribbean Sea.

When Tate mentioned his experience with the Virtual Senior Center to the people around him, every single person was amazed and thought it was a wonderful idea. “I think this is really great. All the different volunteers put out such diverse classes with as many topics as you can think of. I'm just really happy to be a part of that. “

Curious to hear the whole story? Dive into this episode on YouTube with Tate!

Looking for an opportunity to join our Virtual Senior Center? Click here.