At ReachOut, our alumni are a vital part of what we do. If you’re a former ReachOut mentee, we’d love to keep in touch with you – offering you support and new opportunities, as well as the chance to come full circle and inspire the young people we’re currently working with.
On this page, you can find out how to keep in touch with ReachOut, and hear about the opportunities to get involved and make a difference.
Our online alumni platform is a place for ReachOut alumni, as well as mentors, staff and supporters, to keep in touch and stay up to date with ReachOut.
We want to continue to support our mentees after they’ve left ReachOut so the platform is somewhere we’ll be sharing news, resources, job and training opportunities, as well as anything else we think you might be interested in as a ReachOut alumnus.
Our ReachOut alumni are in a unique position to inspire the next generation of mentees.
If you’re interested in getting involved in ReachOut and working with the young people currently taking part in our programmes, there are a few ways to get involved.
As a ReachOut alumnus, you know better than anybody the impact having a mentor can have on a young person. We know that you can make a huge difference as a mentor – why not think about volunteering?
You can also inspire our young people as a guest speaker at one of our sessions. It’s so impactful when our alumni share their life experiences, career paths and plans for the future with our mentees.
If you want to find out more about ReachOut’s alumni network please feel free to get in touch with Mehmet, our Programmes Manager – he’d love to speak to you!
“Hi, I’m Mehmet, ReachOut’s Programmes Manager. One of my responsibilities at ReachOut is to support our fantastic alumni. If you’ve been a ReachOut mentee in the past we’d love for you to be part of our alumni community. Whether that’s us supporting you through resources, job and training opportunities, or whether it’s you coming full circle and supporting our current mentees – we’d love to talk to you! If you’ve got any questions or just want to say hello, drop me an email at mehmet.aygun@reachoutuk.org or use the form on this page.”
“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
