Volunteering, Leadership, and Growing Up: A Conversation with Albert Sun

What does volunteering actually teach you—and how does it shape the way you lead, work, and live? In this edited conversation, I sat down with Albert Sun—an early member of PLAY Leadership and now a machine learning engineer—to unpack how youth service turns into lifelong skills, why empathy needs practice, and what changes (and doesn’t) as you move from high school to college to work.

Volunteering Is Bigger (and Closer) Than You Think

Albert’s first point is simple: volunteering isn’t only formal service hours.

“Running a food drive or helping at a soup kitchen is volunteering—but so is hosting a potluck for your community or starting a club for friends. You’re giving time to bring people together.”

That reframing matters. It turns “service” from a rare event into a habit of showing up, organizing people, and solving small problems that add up. The core skill, he says, is coordination—getting humans in the same place, aligned around the same goal, and moving forward despite friction.

Why it sticks: once you learn to coordinate a potluck, you’re practicing the same muscles you’ll use to coordinate a nonprofit initiative, a student org, or a team at work.

The Portable Skill: Organizing

PLAY spanned multiple high schools and cities across the Tri-Valley. That created real constraints—no single classroom or campus hub—but also a hidden advantage: diversity of interests. Math tutoring, gardening days, newsletters, community events—PLAY became a platform for experimentation.

“You’re constantly asking: What does this community need? Is it feasible? What’s the alternative? That’s leadership—innovating on the fly.”

Albert traces a straight line from those early experiences to professional life: meeting minutes, documenting decisions, setting agendas, inviting perspectives, and turning ideas into action. It was, as he puts it, his first real team project without an answer key.

Empathy Isn’t Automatic—Practice It

If organizing is the muscle, empathy is the posture. It doesn’t just appear; you cultivate it.

“Most people aren’t uncaring—they’re unfamiliar. Empathy grows when you learn others’ perspectives.”

Albert’s practical advice: talk to people beyond your circles—and read widely. History, journalism, memoirs, even good fiction build context about how people live, why systems work the way they do, and where your help fits.

Crucial shift: Don’t arrive as a savior with a solution. Ask what support looks like to the people doing the work. In a soup kitchen, that’s clear. In new initiatives, you co-create the plan with the community, not for them.

Recognition Helps People Start; Depth Makes the Impact

We talked about the Presidential Volunteer Service Award (PVSA) being discontinued. Albert’s view: awards and hour counts can spark the habit—they bring new people in. But genuine impact—and personal growth—come from depth over breadth.

“Find a lane you care about and go deep. That’s where you make a mark.”

For some, that’s PLAY Math. For others, it might be policy advocacy, senior outreach, or food security. The point is not the certificate; it’s the commitment.

“One Person Can’t Change Much,” Right?

Albert offers two counters:

1. Movements exist because people organize. Think of youth-led campaigns around period equity or algorithmic fairness; students have informed policy and changed laws by building coalitions.

2. Skills compound. Even if your first efforts feel small, learning to organize when you’re young pays off for decades—especially once you’ve got more tools, resources, and credibility.

“As an individual, you may feel limited. But with a critical mass—and practice—you can do a lot.”

American Values and Why Service Thrives Here

Albert links volunteering to two U.S. cultural currents: individualism (own your beliefs; build what you think should exist) and free association/speech (gather, advocate, dissent). Put together, they empower young people to form teams and pursue causes—often loudly, and sometimes effectively. It’s not the only way to build community, but it’s a fertile backdrop for youth leadership.

The Funnel Widens: High School → College → Work

Albert’s life-stage framing is refreshingly candid:

• High school: Goals feel clear (college, scores, activities). The path is narrow.

• College: Paths proliferate. You pivot. You discover you like data science after starting in history. Ambiguity grows.

• Work/adulthood: The funnel opens wide—more freedom, more choices, more tradeoffs. Career pivots carry friction (costs, time, responsibilities). Many peers wrestle with meaning, debt, and direction.

What prepares you for that widening funnel? Decision-making reps. Practice choosing with intention now—consider others’ perspectives, but own your choices.

Advice for Students at Each Stage

• High school: Get good at something. Foundations are cheaper to build now than later. If you love math, go beyond the syllabus; if it’s art or physics, push your craft. Depth creates option value.

• College: Keep organizing. Start initiatives, join teams, learn to document and drive decisions. Treat every club or project as leadership practice.

• Early career: Expect uncertainty. Clarify what you value, then align your time. You won’t have unlimited hours—so pick the nights and weekends that matter.

“Whatever you like, get really good at it now. Adulthood adds friction.”

A Note to the PLAY Community

“Keep going. It’s wild and inspiring that something we started in 2014 is still alive. If PLAY were a person, it’d be eleven years old. Use it as a vehicle—to serve your community, and to pursue your passions at a higher level.”

As PLAY grows—across cities, interests, and cohorts—the through-line remains: organize with empathy, go deep where it counts, and practice making good decisions together. The habits you build now won’t just help your next event; they’ll shape the way you lead for the rest of your life.

Thanks to Albert for the generous reflection—and for reminding us that volunteering isn’t a checkbox; it’s a way of moving through the world.