Volunteer Spotlight: Tessa Riess, Corporate Marketing Manager
Having volunteered more than 100 hours of service to numerous charities in the last two years, Tessa Riess exemplifies the tireless spirit of giving back to the community. Among her efforts, Tessa has worked with abused children at the Polinsky Children's Center. She has pitched in at the Ronald McDonald House, heading up the Giving Gardeners project. Tessa, who serves as Bridgepoint Education's Corporate Marketing Manager, helped out Volunteer San Diego's Servapalooza event by volunteering for the event's marketing committee. She has walked in the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer 3-Day and has helped clean up the Tijuana Estuary.
Tessa has also been eager to take part in several of Bridgepoint Education's Social Responsibility efforts. In fact, Bridgepoint Education's commitment to community involvement was a significant factor in Tessa's decision to join the Bridgepoint family.
"One of the things that attracted me to Bridgepoint during my interviews was the fact that giving back to the community is important here," Tessa said. "Through Bridgepoint, I've worked on projects with Junior Achievement and the Special Olympics."
Volunteering is something that runs in Tessa's family. Growing up, Tessa saw her parents, who are both archeologists, donating their time to preserving pieces of history and volunteering to write grants to fund projects. Furthermore, her father was a volunteer firefighter for 33 years and is the manager for his local Red Cross emergency shelter. Despite these role models, it took some time for Tessa to find her way into volunteering. During her senior year of college, Tessa volunteered with a non-profit that aided homeless teens. Once she got a taste of volunteering, she was hooked.
"The beauty of volunteering is that it's free, it brings people and families together and you get to choose causes that are important to you—whether it's children in need, the homeless, the environment, health causes, seniors, veterans, education, community improvement, the unemployed or animals," Tessa said. "It's the little things, like your time, that can make a big difference."