A PROGRAMME set up to help youngsters from chaotic backgrounds turn their lives around is going from strength to strength after attracting its 200th volunteer, its founder has said.
The MCR Pathways scheme continues to grow but still needs more volunteers to mentor children as it continues its mission to steer young people from disadvantaged backgrounds towards a better future.
The Herald is backing the scheme, founded by businessman Iain MacRitchie, and supports its work in six schools in the east of Glasgow.
MCR Pathways helps pupils by matching them to a mentor who provides one-to-one support and the benefit of their experience of the world outside of education.
Mr MacRitchie said: “The number and range of mentors who have signed up is a big endorsement for The Herald in terms of the quality and depth of its readership.
“The mix is inspired in the experience, knowledge and skills, with almost every walk of life and every profession covered from the public to private sector, companies, owners and educationalists. “The main messages from mentors include a strong belief in education, a desire to ensure the best for the next generation and an eagerness to give something back”.
Volunteer Marie McQuade, 42, has been working with the programme for three months, helping a young girl who has previous experience of the care system. Marie said: “MCR Pathways interviewed, trained me and took the time to match me with a young person. We have lots in common from the start and talk about everything from homework and running to fashion and food. “We share a love of reading and so a kind of two-person book/film club has formed where we discuss books and films. “In time we will go on a few visits to places outside of the school, once we are well established and the school and her family are OK with this.”
Statistics for the most disadvantaged young people show 85 per cent leave school on or before their 16th birthday, while fewer than two per cent get into higher education from school. The scheme seeks to provide a pathway into further education but also into other walks of life, by matching young people with someone who can give them practical advice.
Marie said: “These are ordinary young people who are keen to learn and to hear about our experience of education and hearing how I made a career and life for myself and the choices and challenges I faced. “But this is all amid normal and wider social chat. We discussed the referendum and my mentee thought the school day was going to extend if it was a Yes vote, so she was not looking forward to that.”
Mentoring can also be a beneficial experience for the volunteers, who gain the satisfaction of “shaping the future” of a young person at an early stage of their journey through life.
And volunteering is not a full-time job – results can be achieved in as little as an hour a day.
Marie said: “I can’t emphasise enough how rewarding, engaging and normal these young people are and how much every citizen of Glasgow would have to both give and gain by mentoring.
“I go early in the morning and am finished by 9.45am so I can get to work. So practically I have found an easy way to fit it in. And I have three young children and work full-time, so if I can do it, anyone can do it. “It is also important that my mentee does not miss lessons, so we chose a time to suit her.”
