Our team of experienced volunteers do an amazing job in tutoring and mentoring our scholars to their desired goals. We had an opportunity to interview Iona, who has been a volunteer mentor with us since 2020. Iona found it very rewarding to be able to positively impact the life of young people and shares how her experience volunteering  as a mentor with the GT Scholars programme has been.

Please tell us a bit about yourself?

I’m currently a Geotechnical Engineer. I work in the offshore wind industry, where I design offshore wind turbine foundations. I did my undergraduate and PhD at Oxford. After completing experiments as part of my PhD, I decided to move into the industry and apply those skills in the real world.

Tell me a little bit about you and what got you to where you are today?

At school, I enjoyed Science and Maths, Art, and more practical subjects. I did a bit of research and decided that engineering might be a good fit. I did what’s called a Head Start residential course, where you can go and stay at the University for about four days. They give you a taster of what it’s like to study that subject at University. Doing this convinced me that engineering was a good fit for me and gave me the confidence to apply for it at University.

What made you decide to become a volunteer mentor?

While I was at university, I engaged in quite a bit of outreach work and found it rewarding and wanted to continue that when I moved to London. I feel that I’ve benefited from lots of advice from different places, to help me get to where I am today. In my opinion, the inputs that you get from people who are outside of your school or family can be helpful and can maybe help build confidence in big decisions. I felt that I could give back and be involved with young people, to hopefully help navigate through some of the big decisions.

How did you get started as a volunteer mentor with GT Scholars?

I applied to GT Scholars online, and I was open to being either a mentor or a tutor. Although I wasn’t quite sure how I could or would be most helpful, so I spoke with GT Scholars about what might be best. I decided a mentor would be a good idea. We had online training, which was thorough and put me in a good position to take it on.

What did you enjoy most about mentoring your scholar?

It has been rewarding to see the scholars that I work with build their confidence through our conversations. We’ve discussed such a wide variety of topics. From revision and studying strategies to personal strengths and weaknesses and how that impacts the way we study and learn and build relationships. It’s just been great to provide support, and a bit of a sounding board, through this period as well, with school being on and off and having a lot of uncertainty with exams.

What goals have you helped your scholar to achieve?

At the start, we set a lot of goals for the kind of grades to achieve, and of course, that’s been almost impossible this last year, so we’ve planned more short-term goals. We’ve focussed quite a lot on discussing subjects such as the growth mindset and understanding strengths and different personalities. We did this during the period when there was uncertainty in school, so we turned our focus away from exams, which I think was helpful. Recently, I’ve helped my scholar plan revision. We are trying to minimise stress by prioritising the different tasks, particularly now where there’s quite a lot coming up at once. 

What part of the volunteering process have you found the most fulfilling?

I suppose just being there to support someone else through this strange year, knowing that I have made some small contribution to their life. I think it’s valuable in having or exposing yourself to experiences or opinions or just advice from someone outside of your school or family life, providing a slight alternative touchpoint. 

What do you think is the most important skill to have as a volunteer tutor/mentor?

Listening and communicating are valuable skills to have as a mentor. Being able to lend an ear to whatever is going on and trying your best to think of creative ways to discuss it further. Having meaningful conversations is a really crucial part of mentoring.

What was the experience as a volunteer mentor, like for you?

It’s been a great experience and nice to feel that you’re making a difference. 

And from GT Scholars, it’s been a smooth experience with excellent communication. I have felt very well supported throughout the process.

How important has support been in getting you to where you are today?

Support has been essential, particularly with big decisions. You lean on those around you to help you out with those decisions. One of the reasons I think mentoring is so valuable is that it’s providing an alternative form of support, which can be really valuable. 

Would you recommend becoming a mentor with GT Scholars?

Yes! 

What have you gained from volunteering with GT Scholars?

I’ve developed my communication skills. I don’t usually talk to young people that much, so I had some learning here. I’ve also learnt from some of the worksheets I’ve done together with my Scholar – for example on ‘growth mindset’!

 What would you say to anyone thinking of becoming a mentor with GT Scholars?

I would say give it a go. The commitment is manageable. But at the same time, it’s enough of a commitment to feel like you’re involved in something good. The support from GT Scholars is also excellent, so you should feel well supported.

We love our spotlight interviews where we get the opportunity to talk to our volunteers at GT Scholars! Our latest spotlight is on one of our volunteer mentors, Helen. She talks about the role that mentorship has played in her journey to success. Helen is passionate about sustainable energy, societal issues and climate change. She shares more about her experience as a volunteer mentor at GT Scholars!

Tell me a little bit about you and what got you to where you are today?

Yes, sure. Like most teenagers, and especially being Asian, the expectation was to get good grades, go to a good university and get a good degree. I did all of that, but I think the part that people don’t prepare for is stepping into the working world – that professional life. Like many others, I didn’t know what I wanted to do after university. 

I tried out a variety of roles; mainly in climate change and the energy industry. I found it interesting and I wanted to continue in those fields. As you know, subjects and societal issues like climate change have become more critical. So, it’s great to be able to participate and contribute to that. I’m currently working as a pricing analyst for EDF Energy, and I’ve been with the company for almost two years now.

What made you decide to become a volunteer mentor?

I had just moved to London and knew that I wanted to engage in some volunteering opportunities. I just didn’t know where and what I valued, so I had to look inward and say, “What do I believe in?” and I believe in quality education. So GT Scholars popped up in the search engine when I used this volunteering site to search for opportunities at the time and it really resonated with me. So I just jumped at the opportunity to offer my time to volunteer here.

Did you have a mentor as a young person?

Yeah, growing up, my family didn’t have much, so the mentoring that I got was, I guess, let’s call it “unofficial mentoring”. This was mainly from family and friends who were older than me and it shaped who I am as a person and the opportunities that I created for myself in return. And so, what GT Scholars is doing resonates within me, because I see it as leveling the playing field for everyone, no matter what their background. It allows them to have an equal chance at having a successful future career with resources that they can easily access as well. I think that’s important. 

What did you enjoy most about mentoring your scholar?

I think it’s interesting to see what life is like for the younger generation these days. It’s changed a lot since I was young. And so it’s interesting to see what they value and things like that. I find it very inspiring because these kids are much more proactive than I was at that age. We have seen the world grow and become more competitive, and I think it’s great that these kids are taking the expertise or resources they have and using that to their advantage. 

What goals have you helped your scholar to achieve?

So often, when you engage with mentees, it’s not on their own accord and is often guided by the parent. It’s a collaborative journey to understand what they want to gain from these mentor sessions. And usually, it is a career route. For example, trying to figure out an action plan on becoming a doctor, a nurse or a teacher. It’s really about giving them the tools to self-serve and see what is out there and the different routes that will enable them to become whatever they want to be. 

The example I gave for doctors and nurses was one of my previous mentee’s aspirations. They had to figure out what they needed to do in order to go into one of these professions. And it was a lot of juggling for both of us because I’m not in that profession and I wasn’t entirely sure myself. So, I needed to focus on giving them the tools they needed, based on what it takes for them to go into one of these professions.

What challenges have you helped your scholar to face?

Sometimes, scholars come to you for advice on how to manage soft skills, like time management or how best to revise, and often, I would borrow it from my own experiences of taking something that seems challenging and breaking it down into smaller tasks. 

So, as an example, one mentee had to memorise a paragraph of text. What I suggested is that they learn each sentence one by one without trying to remember the entire section at the same time because that can be overwhelming. And so, from that, they didn’t just learn how to tackle that particular challenge, but how to break big tasks into smaller steps. It is a life skill anyway.

What part of this mentoring process have you found the most fulfilling?

The most fulfilling part is knowing that you are positively contributing to someone’s future. I often think that because these children are so young, thinking about things like a career may not make sense to them now. I often hope that they will use the things we have spoken about, the resources that I have given them and the guidance I’ve provided in the future. That they’ll be able to say, “Hang on, I’ve done this before” or, “I was shown this and given tips on that. So, let’s revisit that and see what I can do”. I think that will set them ahead of their peers – knowing where to go for things and using their initiative.

What challenges did you face while mentoring your scholar?

So I’d say the main challenge was understanding what they wanted to gain out of the mentoring sessions because, often, it wasn’t led by them, but their parents instead. So, yes, figuring out why they were here was the biggest challenge. But after that, it becomes more of a collaborative approach. It’s not just what you want to talk about because what they want to discuss is also really important and finding that blended approach to get the most out of the mentoring sessions.

Why do you think mentoring is valuable to young people?

So, I feel not everyone has access to resources and advice and people need to know that it is out there; that people are willing to give their free time to give you the down-low on whatever you want to know. Especially since we’ve all been through it before. Having someone there to provide support to you is incredibly important, especially when you really need it. It’s a time of discovering, growing and figuring out your interests as well. And it’s sometimes good to have a sounding board there to say, “Is this right or not”? And I certainly benefited a lot from that growing up. So, I speak from first-hand experience when I say that mentoring is very valuable. 

What was the experience as a volunteer mentor like for you?

Mentoring at GT Scholars has given me the opportunity to refine my skills and to talk to people from different audiences. It’s one of those invaluable experiences, that’s how important it is. It has also been so rewarding. I feel fortunate that people are placing their trust in me on a topic that is very, very important to them. And as I said, I’ve always seen the role of a mentor as one that gives you the tools to explore, rather than to influence your decisions. So giving them the options to explore in their life is incredibly important.

How important has support been in getting you to where you are today?

It has been extremely important, more than I give credit to. You don’t always realise how something affects you unconsciously. The advice and the encouragement that was given to me have had a massive impact on the conscious decisions that I’ve made and in driving me to where I am today. This has been evident in every decision I made; taking a thousand subjects, changing schools, choosing universities and choosing my degree. Sometimes those decisions have been made alone, but, you know, some of those decisions have been made not just by myself, but with people’s support behind me.

Would you recommend becoming a mentor with GT scholars?

I’d say do it! It’s a very flexible programme, and it’s easy to fit into your schedule and your life. And also, you know, you’re not just enriching your own life, but you’re enhancing someone else’s life too. I think what GT Scholars are trying to achieve is admirable and you get a lot out of it. But, you know, the most important thing is that the mentees get a lot out of it as well. And it is such an invaluable resource to people who don’t have access to this kind of support in their personal lives.

Can you tell me why you decided to volunteer your time with GT Scholars?

I feel very fortunate in terms of the work that I do, which is impactful in some shape or form. I feel that I was able to get into this position because I’ve been very lucky with having a private education. I wanted to try to make it possible for others to realise that there’s an interesting route to go down through University and then into either academia or policy or somewhere in between.

I started looking around for a mentoring programme based on that. It’s been something that I’ve wanted to do for some time to try to help out with things like presentation skills or writing and approaching assignments, and how to make it more systematic and more structured and easier to do and ultimately more successful.

Have you ever had a mentor?

Yes, I have. I have had several, but the most impactful was my second supervisor for my PH. D. who is a scholar of strategic communication and insurgency with a background in journalism and documentary production and several other things. He was someone who I spent many hours talking to about a whole range of things over the last five years, and he really helped me understand that there was more to the work that I was doing than I had initially thought.

What did you gain from having a mentor?

I come from a very focused background in terms of the research that I do and he helped me bring in a lot of other kinds of theories and cultural references into the work that I do. He helped me think about it in a way that was a lot more ambitious and ultimately more interesting as well. His continuing presence and willingness to talk to me about anything in relation to the work I was doing is invaluable to me.

How important has support been in getting you to where you are today?

My job involves a lot of writing and a lot of thinking about data in various ways or using different methods to reach useful conclusions based on diverse data sets. So it’s been driven by the interactions that I’ve had with people who are more senior to me and smarter and more experienced. I would say that it’s everything. The whole approach that I have at work now is a result of an amalgamation of years of receiving advice from people who had more experience.

There are so many people to whom I’m massively indebted for the things I’ve learned from them, whether in relation to methodology or thinking about data or structuring an argument or presenting research.

Why do you think mentoring is valuable to young people?

Well, I think with certain things there is a trick to doing things in the right way, and I wish that I had known that when I was younger, like the importance of time management. I think that you can learn that stuff by talking to other people who have been through it already. Another big part of my job is doing briefings to the various sized audiences, sometimes very small, sometimes hundreds of people at a time.

The importance of public speaking and presentation skills is a critical skill to have. I think that the reason this particular programme appealed to me was the fact that I saw it as an opportunity to talk with young people and get them to do an informal knowledge sharing to an audience of me which isn’t a formal presentation or anything like that.

Getting practice on a week in week out basis, talking about stuff that they learned the previous week or things they found difficult or assignments that they’ve completed or approaches they took towards doing specific things. I feel that could hopefully go some way towards helping them generally in the delivery of presentations and speaking to audiences and comparing ideas.

What have you gained from volunteering with GT scholars?

It has been such an eye-opening experience as to how applied young people are today. Speaking to the mentees I have had regarding their experiences and the challenges they faced with regards to Covid and how they’ve tried to overcome them. All of that has been a really interesting experience for me. 

I hope that the conversations that we’ve had have been even a tiny bit useful for either of them because it’s a challenging time that young people are having to live through today for all sorts of reasons.

What part of the volunteering process have you found the most fulfilling?

The most satisfying thing has been, in both cases, initially that first conversation being quite a difficult interaction, one where neither of us knows the other and don’t know anything about each other. But going from that, having a regular conversation where you know the other person, know your mentee and know what they’re doing and can have a normal chat about what’s going on. I guess the building of familiarity and the normalising of the conversations is, I think, a nice thing, and that’s why I have opted for doing shorter calls more regularly than longer ones.

What do you think is the most important skill in being a volunteer mentor?

I think probably time management, having the regular spot each week and also having regular communication with my mentee.

Is there anything you’d like to add about volunteering with GT Scholars or something that you would like possible volunteers to know?

The programme is really good. It seems to me like something well worth giving a bit of time to support each week. A couple of hours every month isn’t a big thing to take out of your work schedule. I guess that’s something to keep in mind, to get involved doesn’t mean that suddenly you have a really big drain on time.

I encourage other people not to be deterred by worrying about the meetings taking too much because it is useful. You can get a lot done in a conversation or series of conversations.

Why did you decide to volunteer?

When it came to Covid, I was worried about my job security, so I started looking into tutoring as an alternative. I thought let’s get up to speed with what I need to do to tutor. It could be an option for me if It materialised that I didn’t have job security. I got all of the GCSE revision guides and student books to get my head back to where I needed to be to think about tutoring chemistry and physics. 

When it became apparent that my job was secure, I thought I’m not going to waste that time and effort I’ve put in. I decided to find somewhere I could use it. I did some Googling and I found GT Scholars and decided that I will try and help somebody and support somebody who needs it and hopefully help them with their long term goal by tutoring them. So that’s how it all came about!

Tell me a little bit about you and what got you to where you are today, with regards to tutoring and your job in general?

So many years ago, I did my degree in animal science. As a child, I lived in the country and I was surrounded by nature and I was always outside turning stones over and seeing what I could find or sketching birds – I knew all of the bird species. I took my GCSE’s in school and I took my A levels and then I didn’t really know what I wanted to do or which direction to turn. I had no main focus, so I just got a job in a call centre. 

I worked in a call centre for several years, but it wasn’t really hitting the spots I wanted it to hit in regards to where I wanted to be. And so I actually went to University much later. I didn’t study until I was 32, actually. So I graduated when I was 35, and since then I’ve been in Zoo education. 

I’ve worked in zoos as a keeper originally and then followed on in the line of the Zoo education. For the last eight years, I’ve been working for an organisation called Zoolab,  we’ve been operating for over 20 years, and we go out to schools with invertebrates and vertebrates and teach national curriculum-based topics, anything from reception class right through to Universities.

You can be on your knees with three to five-year-olds right and then in the afternoon presenting to 20-year-olds. You have to change the style of your delivery to make the presentation appropriate to your audience. 

So during your time at University and at school, have you ever had a mentor or a tutor and did you find it useful? And what did you gain from it?

This is what I love about the GT Scholars idea. When I was at school, I don’t recall so many options available. We did have choices when I took my A levels. It was very much about going to University, but I don’t remember talks about doing things other than University. I don’t recall all the mentoring and guidance so much. 

I just think it’s so important because it’s a crucial turning point towards a path that you’re pursuing for the rest of your life. That path could take you to a career that you love, or it could take you to a career that perhaps isn’t really where you want it to be. Having that additional one-on-one time in the class environment, I think, is so beneficial. It’s extra guidance that as a teenager stepping out into the big wide world is really beneficial. 

There’s a lot going on when you are a teenager and you can feel quite vulnerable. So I think any guidance and support is so important and beneficial, especially for families that don’t have additional support and families from disadvantaged backgrounds. So this is why I really welcomed volunteering for GT Scholars because mentoring and guidance is very important.

Do you think tutoring is valuable to young people?

I think it’s great for self-confidence. I’ve noticed that with my own scholar. One lesson a couple of weeks ago, he actually said to me ‘We’re doing a topic in class that we’ve been doing in our tutoring sessions and I knew what they were going to say. I knew that was the formula. The fact that he knew something and was slightly ahead of the game in this particular topic really motivated him. I think that’s self-motivating because you suddenly feel ahead, which perhaps he hasn’t felt before.

I think there are so many advantages. There’s the potential to improve your work and planning and study habits because you are given homework and expected to work with the technology that interacts with the tutor.  It’s a good learning experience, people in a class of 35 at school often have different levels of learning and different methods that don’t suit everyone. One on one time allows a student to look at a topic that they may not have understood in class and break it down with the tutor by using a method of tutoring that suits that individual. 

Tutoring helps to overcome those obstacles, and it gives individual attention, which is sometimes actually what’s needed. Some people work better by learning in small groups or individually rather than in a big class. I can say to my scholar, Do you have anything you are struggling with within the school that you want to bring to me? Are there any topics you want to bring to me rather than me directing the study? It encourages self-directed learning as well.

And what is the biggest thing that you’ve gained from volunteering with GT scholars?

So much! Really, I’ve had to learn!! The education that I do day-to-day is in groups. But very few times I’ve done one-on-one sessions, so I’ve had to understand different methods of learning, and I’ve had to be patient. It certainly allows you to think about being a bit more patient. There are weeks where my scholar perhaps hasn’t been punctual or he hasn’t attempted his homework and there are weeks he’s been amazing.

It’s about being patient and diplomatic with it, having an understanding that every two students are different and will learn differently. I’ve enjoyed the whole learning experience about tutoring, seeing how it works, and what doesn’t work. 

Tell us about your experience with your scholar

I think as time has gone on, I’ve gotten to know my scholar well. I know what he likes, he likes basketball and because of this, I try to make our sessions inspiring and fun at the same time. When we do our recap at the beginning of each week on our online Jamboard, I have got a big picture of Michael Jordan, the basketball player, and I’ve got six Post It notes on the screen. My Scholar has to answer those questions, if he gets them correct then he gets a digital slam dunk on the screen.

That’s our fun recap at the beginning to just bring ourselves back to speed where we were the previous week. We will then learn a new topic.  I will get my Scholar to tell me some cool facts about Michael Jordan. I think it’s important to make the sessions fun and engaging to make your scholar enjoy learning. 

So what do you think are the most important skills for a volunteer to have?

Patience and adaptability! Sometimes you need to adapt to last-minute changes that may happen, so being adaptable and patient is key. I think a sense of humour is important too. If you can make your sessions more engaging, the scholars remember those sessions.