Natural Helpers welcomed customer service employee Derek Turner from Wells Fargo this past week to learn more about helping others.

According to Turner, Natural Helpers adviser Allison Luskey invited him to speak to the club.

“(Luskey) wanted me to share my experiences from Wells Fargo to share with the class,“ Turner said.

Turner advised the Natural Helpers to reach out to other students at Park to increase the membership of the club.

“(My) best advice would be to get out in the school and talk to students that don’t know anything about Natural Helpers and see what they can do to get them to join Natural Helpers,” Turner said. “It is very important to know that you can treat people the same either face to face or over the phone and a lot of people don’t understand that.”

While reflecting on Turner’s words, sophomore Grace Kanyinku said the most significant thing she took away from the lecture was the importance of empathy.

“The biggest thing I gained from the speaker is the

 value of having more empathy for people,” Kanyinku shared. “One thing that really resonated with me is meeting someone on a human level even if they give you bad energy, you give them good energy back.”

Sophomore Selee Olmen said she will keep Turner’s advice in mind as she moves forward in the club.

“(The advice) will help me keep an open mind when interacting with my classmates and I will approach them with respect all them time,” Olmen said. “It taught me a lot on how to build relationships with people and how to communicate with others, even if I don’t know them every well.”

According to Kanyinku, the final message Natural Helpers gained from listening to Turner was to be aware and sympathetic to all surroundings.  

“What’s important is that people need to remember the only thing you know 100 percent is yourself,” Kanyinku said. “You need to remember there is a world around you, and there are people around you with other complex feelings and emotions. It’s important to be aware of that.”

The next Natural Helpers meeting will be at 8 a.m. Thursday, Dec. 20 in B112.