Students volunteer for Hyderabad
9 years ago Shalini BThe Generation Z is totally different from the previous generations. They volunteer for events, support causes and intend to create a strong impact socially and environmentally.
The Airtel Hyderabad Marathon is the second largest city marathon in India and the Hyderabad Marathon is famous for its student volunteers. Every year thousands of students volunteer at the Hyderabad Marathon and cheer for Hyderabad showing runners from all around the globe what Hyderabadi hospitality is all about.
The 2015 Marathon is their 5th edition and is organized by the Hyderabad Runners Society, a non profit organization founded in 2007 to encourage active and healthy lifestyle among all age groups in the cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad. The proceedings from the run for charity are used to develop partner NGOs like Isha Vidya, Asha Hyderabad, CARE India, GoSports Foundation and more.
The Marathon attracts thousands of people from all walks of life promoting the spirit of camaraderie and fitness in the city. The 2014 edition witnessed the support of 1500 student volunteers manning the aid stations and traffic marshalling for runner safety. We are expecting support from at least 2015 student volunteers for the 2015 edition.
 A Hyderabad based startup company, YoGrad, helps the organising team in gathering support from student volunteers. YoGrad is an online platform that provides students with easy access to information related to their career and happenings in the student community. Students wake up at 3 AM and came down to volunteer and cheer the runners. They are all working for Hyderabad. Volunteering at events like this not only helps the students in meeting new people, developing their network and learning new skills, but also helps them in creating a positive impact and giving back to the community. Also, it adds a lot of weight age to their profile/CV when they are going for higher studies abroad or while applying for jobs.
Students from colleges like St.Marys, MLR Group of Institutions, St. Peter’s Engineering College, The Engineers without borders chapter at MJ College of Engg & Tech, ICBM , NITHM have been supporting the event and this year colleges like Keshav Memorial Institute of Technology, G.Narayanamma Inst of Tech, Malla Reddy College of Engineering, Deccan College of Engineering, MVSR, Woxsen School of Business & CMR are very keen on being a part of the student volunteering team. Startups like Purpletalk and Student run NGOs like ProjectWE also adopt and manage sections along the route.
The student volunteers not only help with registration and other event management support, but also continuously cheer the runners all along the 42 km route. The 42KM route for the marathon starts from Necklace Road and extends upto the Gachibowli Stadium. The route is divided into various sections and each section will have aid stations stocked with water, biscuits, medicines, energy drinks & first aid stations to help the runners .
Volunteer Experience:
Gayathri, Volunteer, MLRIT
Volunteering for this event gave me a lot of new experiences. It gave me an opportunity to support people who work for a cause. I am very happy to be a part of AHM because I got to interact with so many people from different backgrounds and to work with such enthusiastic people.
Saleem, Volunteer, St.Peters Engineering College
120 stduents from St.peters volunteers for the Marathon. These kind of activities give an opportunity for students to meet new people and enhance their skills. It is a very positive feeling when you give back to the society.
Ram Mohan Reddy, St Marys College
The one thing I celebrate like all the festivals every year is the airtel Hyderabad marathon. I started my journey as a volunteer with the organisers in my 1st year of graduation. It is a great opportunity  to show our leadership skills and it has helped us in creating a confidence of handling 70 people under which was a great experience . it also helped us in creating new contacts with interacting with new people.