Celebrating Jamie’s impact this Volunteers’ Week.
As Volunteers’ Week gets started, we’re proud to shine a spotlight on one of our volunteer mentors who has been nominated for an award. Jamie, a mentor at Largs Academy, is up for Community Volunteer of the Year in tonight’s Ayrshire Community Trust Awards ceremony.
Jamie was matched with a young person in S3 who had a strong interest in skateboarding. Their early sessions quickly built a connection around that shared passion. Shortly after they were matched, his mentee was involved in an incident at school and stopped attending. Over time, he became unable to leave the house altogether.
Despite this, Jamie came to school every week at their scheduled meeting time. His persistence showed unwavering commitment. His mentee was kept informed of this, helping him see that there was someone who genuinely cared and wasn’t going anywhere.
With support from the school, Jamie began virtual mentoring sessions, which started out brief and cautious but gradually grew into regular weekly conversations. As trust was rebuilt, the young person agreed to meet Jamie back in school.
Their sessions soon focused on a hands-on project: designing and building a skateboard quarter pipe. Thanks to Jamie, this creative, practical project gave the young person the momentum he needed to begin reintegrating into school life. He now attends two days a week, has recently joined a class for the first time in ten months, and has applied for a part-time college course.
Jamie shared about being nominated for this award: “I’m flattered to be nominated for an award, but really, all credit should go to my young person, who despite significant personal challenges, turned up each week, and my co-ordinator Gareth, who has been resolute in his support for my young person along with fantastic support from the school.
“In my experience, so many young people are far more engaged by practical activities than talking about problems. Building a skateboard quarter pipe fully engaged a young person who otherwise was very disengaged from their schooling. During our sessions, my YP went from a young man who struggled to make eye contact or conversation to one who showed a great sense of humour, amazing insight and curiosity, kindness and previously hidden practical talents.”
Gareth Smith, Pathways Coordinator at Largs Academy, shared why he nominated Jamie for this award: “Jamie has been nominated because he ‘gets it’. He is the epitome of all that we could ever hope for in an MCR mentor. Through his persistence, his personality, his relationship building skills, his courage to innovate, his infectious enthusiasm and his sense of service, Jamie has made a monumental difference to a young person’s life. At all times he has been incredibly perceptive, wonderfully free in his thinking and an inspirational joy to work with”.
We’re sending our best wishes to Jamie in tonight’s award ceremony. His story is a powerful reminder of the difference just one mentor can make.
Volunteer mentors meet with their young person for just one hour a week during school time. That hour can unlock confidence, nurture ambition and ignite potential. We hope you agree that is exactly what Jamie has done.
As we mark Volunteers’ Week, stories like Jamie’s show how life-changing mentoring can be. Every young person deserves someone who believes in them. Could that someone be you that helps a young person to find their path?
Learn more and become a mentor today at mcrpathways.org/volunteers-week-25
