Volunteer Spotlight: Kelsey Rose Weigman

A childhood trip to Colorado convinced Kelsey Rose Weigman she would eventually settle here. Always a big fan of being outdoors, Kelsey fell in love with the area’s clean air and mountains. She typically starts her day with her own yoga practice, which is something she’s done for so long that it is just a natural part of her life.

She recently completed her classwork for a Public Health degree from Temple University in Pennsylvania. All that remained to graduate was a 600-hour field internship in health education/prevention. Committed to moving west, she contacted BCAP to see what we could offer and soon after signed up to intern with BCAP’s Prevention Department. Since January of this year, Kelsey has volunteered at BCAP anywhere from 20 to 40 hours a week. Despite her busy schedule, she makes the time for her yoga practice and to enjoy remote day hikes with her boyfriend and her dog, Terra.

Kelsey says BCAP’s Prevention Director Frank O’Caña has been very intentional working with her to create a purposeful learning experience that has included all aspects of the Prevention Department’s work. She said she “couldn’t have had a better experience.” Kelsey’s volunteer duties are varied and include HIV and HCV antibody testing, educational presentations in schools, street outreach, syringe access, and almost every other task prevention staff work on. Kelsey is also an active member of BCAP’s Atlas Prevention Program.

Kelsey’s big take-away from her internship which ended August 2 is that she’s in the right place: the non-profit world, with a public health focus. Working so many hours a week at BCAP, we’ve all grown accustomed to seeing Kelsey here in the office and we’ll miss seeing her daily.

Frank O’Caña reflects, “Kelsey has been a joy to work alongside, and I sense I’ve learned as much from her as she has from her internship. She is incredibly insightful, purposeful, skilled, and talented. I’m grateful that she plans to continue volunteering with our Prevention Department. ”

Kelsey’s advice for new volunteers is to “Trust your experience. It’s going to be worthwhile! Be involved in any way you can. The people are genuinely kind and BCAP is a good place.”