In this blog, we hear more about Jasmin’s experience volunteering with ReachOut, a national mentoring and education charity. Jasmin, an LSE alumni, reflects on balancing her degree and volunteering, as well as the highlights of her ReachOut experience!
Volunteering with ReachOut while studying at LSE
I started volunteering with ReachOut at the end of October in 2021, shortly after having started my Master’s in ‘Inequality and Social Science’ at LSE. I came to LSE to study my Master’s with a particular interest in ‘Educational Inequality’, and so was really keen to volunteer in this field. I began by looking through the LSE Student Union homepage and quickly came across ReachOut. ReachOut is a national mentoring and education charity that is rooted in local communities. They run projects in primary and secondary schools, and what really drew me to ReachOut was their focus on building character and increasing social and academic confidence. Throughout the academic year I volunteered for 2 hours every Thursday afternoon at a Year 5/6 ReachOut project in North London. I was paired with a young person who I worked with on a 1:1 basis each week, and also took part in group activities with all of the young people and volunteer mentors on the project. 
Before I began volunteering I did have a few reservations and worries. Would I be able to cope with a 2-hour commitment every week alongside studying for my MSc, or would the extra commitment ultimately add to my stress? Having also never worked or volunteered with young people before, I felt quite nervous and out of my comfort zone. Questioning whether I was the right person to be volunteering? These worries however soon went out of the window once I had attended my first session. The group consisted of many other volunteer mentors who had never had any experience working with young people before and were in exactly the same position as me, and the project leader quickly made me feel at ease.
My Experience and Highlights
It’s Fun!
The most surprising factor for me was that volunteering with ReachOut each week soon became my favourite part of the week! Instead of adding to my stress, it became a stress reliever. You’re helping others, but it’s also just so much fun! Taking part in fun activities with the young people, playing games like dodgeball, building paper towers, or coming up with creative and exciting ideas for a Dragon’s Den activity always acted as such a nice break from using my brain to study and from sitting at my desk all day! I also ended up working and planning my week much more efficiently, finding that I was procrastinating less, as I knew that my mentee was relying on me to attend every session.
Making New Friends
I also found it was a great way to make friends! Having moved to London for my Master’s degree, all of my other friends were students on my course and sometimes it was easy to get caught up and only talk about stressful university assignments. As there is such a mix of people who volunteer with ReachOut, it was really refreshing to make friends outside of the University environment, and take part in something together where there was a focus other than university.
Helping People in your Community and Making a Difference
The main highlight from my experience of volunteering with ReachOut however, was being able to see the tangible change within my mentee and within the other young people on my project. My mentee was quite shy at the beginning, and had quite low confidence especially with any English tasks. So, initially when there was an activity such as writing a speech and reading it out in front of the rest of the group, my mentee wouldn’t even want to begin writing and just refused to do it. By the end of the project, his confidence in English had really increased and in one of the last activities where they had to write a speech and read it out, he was eager to get started and even put his hand up to go first to read it out! It was great to be involved in something where you feel like you have really helped someone and contributed to something really positive in your local community.
Skills I built
By the end of the project I found that I had also developed my own skills. One of the key skills that I have taken away from volunteering is active listening, really focusing on being present and putting all of your attention onto what is happening around you. ReachOut also really helped me to increase my own confidence. Having never worked or volunteered with young people before, this was something that was quite out of my comfort zone.
Why others should think about Volunteering
Volunteering last year was one of the best things that I did and really shaped my year! It’s such a great break from studying and being encompassed by the university bubble, which at times can be really overwhelming! You can go and take part in something genuinely fun, meet other people and come out feeling uplifted as you know you have just spent two hours (or however long your volunteering opportunity is) knowing you have done something to help others.
To anyone who is starting University in September I would definitely recommend thinking about Volunteering! There are so many great organisations and charities out there that you could volunteer with. You will definitely find something that matches your interests, or come across something completely new that you may not have considered before! ReachOut are always looking for volunteers to get involved as a mentor for the new academic year, you can find out more on the ReachOut website (https://www.reachoutuk.org/). I can’t recommend it enough!
If Jasmin 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.
