ReachOut! and Me

Extracts from Steph Pickerill's speech at the ReachOut! London Volunteer Event:

As a bright-eyed fresher, I was keen to do more voluntary work and knew that it was going to be of the 'helping-out-in-a-school' kind rather than the 'picking up rubbish from the canal' kind. Mentoring made sense; as an English and history student I had lightly considered a teaching career.

What originally attracted me to ReachOut!’s Midweek Mentoring Project (now called the ReachOut! Club) was the idea of one-to-ones and the regularity of the programme. Faced with a timetable of just 8 hours a week- it is no news that students have a lot of time on their hands.

The one-to-one relationships are also a great experience for both parties, something I hadn’t realized properly until I volunteered as a teacher with ReachOut!’s Summer Programme last year, in one of my first classes one of the pupils confidently shot her hand up to ask if I remembered her, I was her mentor at Brook Community Primary School 2 years ago. Of course I remembered her (though it did take me a sec- taller and self-assured, she had changed) but I was completely shocked that she should remember me after so long. Her memory then went on to trump mine- she proudly told me about some of the work we had done during the sessions at Brook- a great indicator of the benefits of the sessions, one girl’s positive recollection of her experience.

The commitment shown through working on a regular volunteering project is gold to employers looking for responsible, independent and reliable candidates. It has led to my finding work as a writing mentor. My work as project coordinator was a direct influence on my securing the position of managing editor of Queen Mary’s magazine, a role in which my experience of managing a team of volunteers has been crucial. So, although the teaching career is taken a back step in my plans, management is definitely something I want to take forward and it is ReachOut!’s mentoring scheme that has helped in shaping these decisions and armed me with the experience to take them forward.

I look forward to going back to the freshers fair next year and recruiting some bright young freshers to a project I am proud to have been part of.