Nazifa Azad has been volunteering in her spare time as a Student Academic Mentor (SAM). The SAM programme is a mentoring scheme ran by students, for students. Mentors help first year students on the same programme adjust to life at university, supporting them with academics, social life, etc. In this blog, Nazifa shares her experience as a volunteer and her time as a SAM.
Beginning university, volunteering was honestly not something I had given much consideration to. However, navigating university life with the added challenges of the pandemic at the start of my first year proved challenging in many ways. My own student academic mentor became a great help to me and she is someone who I have actually kept in regular contact with since, even though our mentor-mentee relationship officially ended as my first year drew to a close. At the start of my second year, I decided that I wanted to give back to incoming freshers and take up the opportunity to help support new students in their transition to university. Now as I reflect on my experience on the programme from the other side of the year, I can absolutely say that being a student academic mentor has been a rewarding opportunity for a number of reasons, and I am glad that I decided to take on the responsibility.
I found it fulfilling to be able to connect mentees with each other, especially since the lack of social connection and interaction developed into a glaring problem for me—as well as for many others—due to the pandemic. It was also rewarding to help new students navigate settling into university life by sharing the kinds of experiences and advice that I had found so helpful coming from my own mentor. In doing so, I found it surprisingly beneficial to have a space to personally reflect on my own experience of first year and to identify the good and the bad not only to help guide my mentees but also to direct my own goals for my second year.
As the year progressed, I came to realise that me being needed less and less was in fact a good sign that my mentees had learned to be independent as they got into the swing of things. I quickly accepted that it was best for them to use the mentoring system only as it benefitted them. Ultimately, the most important thing I took away from this experience is that simply being there for my mentees—and making them aware of this fact!—was the most important responsibility that I could fulfil for them in their first year.
Volunteering as SAM does not have to take up much of your time or energy, but it can certainly change someone else’s whole university experience and set them up for happiness and success down the road.
If Nazifa has inspired you to volunteer, check out one of our other ongoing opportunities or book a one-to-one with David Coles, the Volunteer Centre Manager if you have more questions. And why not follow us on Twitter, and Instagram to stay up-to-date with our events and opportunities and read our blog for more volunteering tips and stories.
