At ReachOut we are incredibly proud of our mentors and mentees so it is wonderful to see them receiving recognition for their hard work and achievements.
University of Manchester Volunteer of the year & social responsibility awards:
ReachOut staff and volunteers were lucky enough to be invited to the University of Manchester’s annual volunteer awards in May. The glitzy ceremony was held in the Whitworth Hall (where students graduate) and included posh nibbles and a jazz band as well as the award presentations themselves. It was an honour to hear no less than Dame Nancy Rothwell commend students for volunteering with organisations like ReachOut.
Chereice Carter was recognised for her commitment and innovation as a Project Leader for the ReachOut Club, achieved a Commended Award in the Students category. Chereice started three years ago as a volunteer mentor, stepping up in her second year as a project leader for the St Mary’s Primary School Club in Moss Side. This year, Chereice has been the project leader of the St John’s Primary School Club in Wythenshawe, and has taken project-leading to the next level! She has planned every session herself, designing brand-new activities, games and worksheets to help her mentees develop academically and personally. Chereice always has a smile on her face, and her positivity has motivated both the mentees and mentors to give everything their best. Chereice graduates this summer and plans to become a teacher. We know she’ll be great but we will miss her at ReachOut Manchester!
The other nominees included Polly Rusby, who has volunteered for 3 years as well as being part of the committee, and Jonjo Bigwood, who has volunteered for 2 years and helped his mentees record a film this year. Alumni volunteers were also recognised: Rob Lennox for his commitment to the Post-16 project, Inigo Kelsey for being an Academy Project Leader and Jamie Fox for volunteering on both the Junior Mentor and Academy projects.
Jack Petchey Achievement Awards
The Jack Petchey Achievement Award Scheme is a reward and recognition initiative which enables schools and youth organisations to celebrate the achievements of their young people as well as receive additional funding. Each month ReachOut! chooses an award winner who then can choose how ReachOut! spends £200 donated by the Jack Petchey Foundation.
Winners for this quarter are below.
February - Zoey Hitzert
Winners for this quarter are below.
February - Zoey Hitzert
Zoey was a fantastic ReachOut Club mentor in 2011 and this year became a Project Leader on the first girls ReachOut Club at Rhyl Primary School in Camden. As a Project Leader Zoey has amazing attention to detail. She is aware of the needs of each of her mentees, but also the mentors, and is able to plan her activities accordingly, always considering what is best for them. This February has been particularly tough as two mentors had to leave the project and were not replaced for a few weeks. Zoey did incredibly well to make sure the mentees did not feel they were being abandoned or overlooked by mentoring them herself whilst still running the project! Zoey is a fantastic Project Leader and we really hope she will be back again next year. Thanks Zoey and congratulations!
March - Billie-Jo Moorton-Elderton
Billie-Jo attends the ReachOut Academy project in Hackney where she takes part in one-to-one academic mentoring and football coaching. At the start of the year Billie-Jo was particularly disruptive in sessions; shouting out, refusing to follow instructions and distracting others. Things came to a head one session when she was rude to her mentor and so the Project Leader, her mentor and Billie-Jo sat down together to discuss her behaviour, the project, and what she would like to gain from ReachOut. Billie-Jo worked extremely hard to improve her behaviour throughout March and succeeded! She now gets on really well with her mentor and scores one of the highest on effort and behaviour each week. Well done Billie-Jo!
April - Oladayo Olagunju
Oladayo Olagunju has made tremendous efforts developing the Junior Mentor Programme boys' group project. His group are making a documentary film about football this term and he has taken on the role of directing. He has undertaken much of the pre-production work (research and development). He has also devised the concept and basic synopsis for the whole project. His skills as a leader (by example) have been simply outstanding under difficult circumstances. He is the only boy who isn’t actually involved in the football team and has undertaken much this work on his own after the other boys have gone to football training. Congratulations Oladayo!
March - Billie-Jo Moorton-EldertonBillie-Jo attends the ReachOut Academy project in Hackney where she takes part in one-to-one academic mentoring and football coaching. At the start of the year Billie-Jo was particularly disruptive in sessions; shouting out, refusing to follow instructions and distracting others. Things came to a head one session when she was rude to her mentor and so the Project Leader, her mentor and Billie-Jo sat down together to discuss her behaviour, the project, and what she would like to gain from ReachOut. Billie-Jo worked extremely hard to improve her behaviour throughout March and succeeded! She now gets on really well with her mentor and scores one of the highest on effort and behaviour each week. Well done Billie-Jo!
April - Oladayo Olagunju
Oladayo Olagunju has made tremendous efforts developing the Junior Mentor Programme boys' group project. His group are making a documentary film about football this term and he has taken on the role of directing. He has undertaken much of the pre-production work (research and development). He has also devised the concept and basic synopsis for the whole project. His skills as a leader (by example) have been simply outstanding under difficult circumstances. He is the only boy who isn’t actually involved in the football team and has undertaken much this work on his own after the other boys have gone to football training. Congratulations Oladayo!
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