Yellow Shirts

Make the O-Week magic happen!

Every year, approximately 190 enthusiastic volunteers known as Yellow Shirts spend one unforgettable week helping new students find their feet and have fun.

The mega-extravagant-amazing-wonderful event that is O-Week is a huge success because of the hard work, commitment and fun-loving spirit of the Yellow Shirts.

Joining Yellow Shirts provides you with lifelong friends, skills and hilarious memories. Yellow Shirts is a great opportunity to help others in a way that can make a lasting difference while meeting people from all over campus.

Volunteer!

Yellow Shirts is a volunteer program entirely dedicated to helping organise, create, and drive O-Week!

Become a beacon of knowledge and help lost students find their bearings – whether it’s finding a student faculty office, the closest bathroom, or even the best coffee on campus!

You'll spend the summer with 190 other incredible and passionate volunteers, developing important skills such as teamwork, leadership, communication and problem solving.

Keen on applying?

Unfortunately our applications for 2021 are now closed. However, there will be another opportunity to apply next year! There are also a number of exciting opportunities to volunteer in other Arc programs throughout the year, so keep an eye out for them!

What do you do during O-Week?

Yellow Shirts at O-Week is all about making sure first years have the best time during their first interaction with university. You’ll be taking first years on campus tours, making and giving out FREE snow cones, popcorn and fairy floss, and even running your own events like water fights, dodgeball and so much more!

How much time do I need to dedicate to Yellow Shirts? Does it actually require me to give up my summer?

Taking on O-Week isn’t an easy task, and we’re here to prepare you properly for running events, tours, and meeting first years. The compulsory training days are super important in getting you ready for an intense week, developing the skills you need to become one of the pillars of O-Week. But work hard, play hard as they say. There will also be a bunch of brilliant social events where you’ll be able to meet and hang out with the rest of the program! And as always, you get out what you put in, so attending as many events as possible is highly encouraged.

See below for the list of compulsory dates!

What are the compulsory dates?

Friday, 13th November 2020 (WK 9): Intro BBQ
Saturday, 2nd January 2021: Training Day #1
Saturday, 9th January 2021: Training Day #2
Friday to Sunday, 22nd-24th January 2021: Training Camp
Saturday, 30th January 2021: Training Day #3
Monday to Friday, 8th-12th February 2021: O-Week!

We've also got a number of exciting optional days throughout the summer for social events and self development!

How is YS different from other volunteering programs?

Yellow Shirts is built on a legacy of students wanting to come back and continuing to give back to both the program internally and to the student community as a whole. By joining Yellow Shirts, you’ll become part of, and get to contribute to this wonderful tradition of passing on knowledge and building a culture of inclusivity for both new and returning students to UNSW. You’ll have so many opportunities to give back to first years and help create future O-Weeks in your own way, and joining Yellow Shirts is just the first step on what could be a crazy journey.

What can I get out of applying for YS?

Joining Yellow Shirts is just the first step towards gaining a wide range of skills that you’ll be able to apply in the future, such as teamwork, leadership, and even organisational skills as you balance the tasks you need to do with all the fun you’re going to have. You’ll also have the opportunity to reapply in the future for other roles in the program, building on your experience and allowing you to add to your skillset, whether you’re more artistically inclined, love student life and student-run clubs, are super passionate about sport, or even just want to meet new people and gain some wonderful friendships.

What if I don’t know anyone?

Never fear! As with all other volunteering programs, you’ll have the potential to meet a whole bunch of awesome people and make life-long friendships. You’ll be put into a squad who you’ll spend time with at training days, program-wide social events, and also bond with through squad outings, and make life-long friendships during the course of spending an entire week together! #squadgoals

How will COVID-19 impact YS?

For the first time since the establishment of the program in 1990, Yellow Shirts will be including online initiatives. With the uncertainty around the situation looking ahead into the future, the extent of this is to be confirmed - but rest assured, the program aims of making a positive impact on new students and fostering a diverse and supportive culture will remain unwavering. Yellow Shirts will be maintaining an in-person presence at O-Week so long as it is safe to do so!