On Tuesday 28st March we held our annual Volunteer Thankyou Event in Manchester!
We invited all of our Manchester volunteers to GRUB to thank them for their commitment and hard work during the school year. We presented awards to recognise all of our fantastic mentors who have gone above and beyond this year. We also heard from different members of the ReachOut community and even heard from our young people who had prepared video clips thanking their mentors for their support.
Elliot, a mentor from Dean Trust Ardwick, gave a speech talking about the young people on his project, their accomplishments and how much they had developed this year. It was incredible to hear Elliot’s observations and key learnings from being a mentor so far, and the stories and memories that he shared left everyone in the room with a smile on their face!
We also had the pleasure to hear from one of our Project Leaders, Lorena, who has been with ReachOut in different capacities for 5 years now. Lorena took us through her own character journey, and spoke about how mentoring and Project Leading helped to shape the person that she is today. It was a very inspirational speech, one that many mentors and Project Leaders could relate to.
After the awards ceremony, mentors, Project Leaders and staff all had the opportunity to socialise and share anecdotes from their projects and their young people. It was a perfect wrap up for the evening!
A huge thank you to everyone who joined us for the evening and to GRUB for being such excellent hosts! It was wonderful celebrating the year with so many of our ReachOut mentors.
Below you can find the full list of our award winners.
Bronze Award Winners (for volunteering 30+ hours):
Silver Award Winners (for volunteering 50+ hours):
Gold Award Winners (for volunteering 75+ hours):
Platinum Award Winner (for volunteering 100+ hours):
Good Judgement Award – Lamees Ali
Self-control Award – Maciek Kwasigroch
Fairness Award – Michael Elders
Staying Power Award – Mike Dolan
Club Mentor of the Year – Rosanna Lush McCrum
Club Project of the Year – Rolls Crescent Primary School Year 5
Academy Mentor of the Year – Hope (Kiki) Poller
Academy Project of the Year – Newman RC College Year 10
Outstanding Contribution – Neil Welch
“At first, I was really hesitant to take on the Project Leader role, despite having mentored with ReachOut. However, with the support of the team I’ve really developed my skills. For example, at the Mentee Graduation, I stood up in front of 200 people and presented an award which is something I would never ever have been able to have done before, and isn’t an opportunity I could gain in my other situations.”
Amy McCutcheon, Project Leader at ReachOut Academy, Dean Trust Ardwick, Manchester.
“Being able to spend the summer working at Rede Partners, was an amazing experience. Whether it was working in HR or Finance, I learned so much about the world of private equity, made great connections with fantastic people and I got to learn first-hand what it would be like to work there! I really believe that I can go onto build the career I want now I’ve been a part for a workplace for real”
Victor Adekunle, 18 years old, ReachOut Ambassador, London
“When I first my mentee, she was very reluctant to participate in the sessions. Now, I see a completely different person! Her confidence has grown and she is happy to join in! She still has some self-doubt when it comes to academic work, but that’s what I hope to help her overcome, because she is a very bright person!
Through mentoring, I’ve learnt I’m a lot more patient than I realised. There will be days where she refuses to participate and those are the days that I really see the importance of the character strengths, for both the mentees and the mentors. It also makes it easier for the mentee to understand the character strengths, when I use them myself”
Myrtle, ReachOut Club mentor at Tufnell Primary School, London
“There are more distractions than ever outside of school, and the commitment of our students to attend ReachOut sessions is testament to the value they place on the relationships they foster there, and the challenge and enjoyment they provide.
ReachOut’s focus on communication skills and character development has become an important aspect of our provision of support for these students. The opportunity to relate to a positive role- model other than their usual teachers is key to the programme’s impact, and the evidence of this has been seen in the students’ attendance, resilience and to their overall progress across all the subjects in the school.”
Thomas Janvrin, Assistant Vice Principal at the Petchey Academy London
