Volunteer Spotlight - Gabe Evans Cayley

Gabe's Year 10 ACE group on their Christmas trip!

Gabe is a final year History student at the University of Manchester. She has been a volunteer with ReachOut since her first year.

I’ve been volunteering with ReachOut since my 1st year and it’s been fantastic. I’d always been passionate about working with young people and ReachOut has been a great way to maintain and channel this while at university. It has been a welcome break from the weekly uni routine; I nearly always come out of the sessions feeling energised and elated. A thoroughly rewarding experience!

I got involved with ReachOut after a friend, who had just graduated from Manchester and had volunteered for ReachOut throughout his degree, told me about the charity. He sold it very well and I knew I loved working with young people, so I signed up as soon as I arrived for my first year at Manchester!

For my first two years, we’d arrive at the school, get settled with our mentees and start an hour of one-on-one learning (English, Science or Maths), followed by an hour-long “fun” activity (anything from drama games to dodgeball). In this final year, the second hour has been taken up by planning, organising and running a mentee-led charity event, which will take place at the end of the academic year. This has been a great way to keep the girls engaged and bring home the character-building traits that ReachOut values.

My mentee, Elizabeth, is lovely. She’s quite shy (although she has her cheeky smile moments) and keeps herself to herself most of the time. She’s very intelligent, but struggles with the confidence to follow through with her answers and make herself heard - something which seems to carry over into social situations too. I think and hope that I’ve helped boost her confidence a little, encouraged her to speak up sometimes and realise that she’s always got something valid to say (and that she’s way better than me at Maths and Science).

The best thing about volunteering at ReachOut is getting the opportunity to build up relationships with young people and feel that you’ve had even a small impact on their lives. I’ve definitely not always been sure if I’m making any difference and sometimes you can feel a bit disheartened, but the little moments of realisation are priceless. Last week, all the mentees wrote notes to their mentors. Elizabeth wrote ‘I am thankful for all your help, you’re funny and amazing and smart too’ and I nearly burst into tears. 

On top of all the great experiences, ReachOut has helped me develop a whole load of skills, from working with and understanding young people, to leadership skills. It’s also really helped me reflect on my own character and confidence. You can get as much out of it as you want to really. What I’ve learnt in three years will definitely help me in pursuing my career - I happen to want to work with young people in the future, but the skills you learn are invaluable for all pathways.

I would recommend volunteering with ReachOut to anyone coming to study in Manchester or London.