February 2008



	IN FEBRUARY'S VOLUNTEAR: HURRY FOR HUNTER! OI, MENTOR! DO THIS! FIVE PAINFULLY FUNNY WEBSITES! NO WONDER RED SQUIRRELS ARE ON THE BRINK OF EXTINCTION! EMAIL OF THE MONTH

	HURRY FOR HUNTER! You only have one week left to get your entries in for the Hunter Leadership Programme! This programme gives ten young people
	the chance to develop leadership skills, gain some experience that money could never buy, and it’ll look just dandy on that CV of yours. This is open to all 16-19 year olds in Scotland and will turn you into a great and wise leader, like Papa Smurf. To find out more, and to enter, visit their swanky website. The closing date is Friday 29th of February, so get your cyber-skates on!

	OI, MENTOR! DO THIS! We are running another one of our brilliant Mentor Workshops at the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh on March 26th, for anyone interested in becoming a ProjectScotland Mentor. It kicks off with a buffet in the Bar Café, (the food and booze bit of the Traverse) at 6 to 6:30pm, followed by the workshop at the Traverse-2, from 6:30 until 9pm. To attend, or for more info email jane.robertson@projectscotland.co.uk and do it sharpish because there are only 30 places! ...and this! On the 10th and 11th of March The Hub in Edinburgh is hosting “Foundations for Flourishing“. This event is run by The Centre for Confidence and Well-being, and features an impressive range of speakers. The second day deals with adolescents, and would be of particular relevance to Mentors. It will open your eyes and fill your head with nuggets of glistening, golden truth and wisdom. Go here to find out more.

	Five painfully funny websites It cannot be stressed enough that this is only in my twisted and deranged opinion and that there is content in these sites which will no doubt offend the more sensitive among us. The rest of us will laugh our asses off! The Daily Mash If the news was really like this then I’d watch it. The Chuck Norris Facts The ‘truth’ about the legend that is Chuck Norris. Mullets Galore Does exactly what it says on the tin this one: business up front, party in the back! Hip Hop Charts. Finally, the worlds of Rap music and statistics collide. Gangstas love graphs! Bert is evil! Incontrovertible proof, as if it were needed, that Bert from Sesame Street is pure evil.

	NO WONDER RED SQUIRRELS ARE ON THE BRINK OF EXTINCTION!


	EMAIL OF THE MONTH I was just working in a shop at the time when my mum discovered ProjectScotland. I had always wanted to work with children so when my mum saw the advert in the Evening News looking for volunteers to work in schools doing the Scotland Reads project, I was so excited. I decided to apply, and to my astonishment I got the placement and am now working in a school 5 days a week and loving it. I love working with the children and in the school environment. The children like it too and they look forward to getting out of class for 3 half hour sessions per week, learning how to do all the techniques involved in the paired reading sessions.
	It allows them to choose what they want to read and they have fun doing it. I also get to work in the classroom area which is amazing, seeing how the teachers work and how excited the younger children get. I'm now nearly 3 months into my placement and still loving going to the school everyday. I never thought for one minute that volunteering would be this much fun. After I finish my placement, I hope to go to college to get more Highers so I can apply to university to do teaching. I hope the parliament helps ProjectScotland because without it I wouldn't have had the opportunity to work in a school and decided what I want to do, so I thank you for that. Hayley Cassidy Learning & Teaching Scotland Cheers for that Hayley. Send your thoughts, words, musings, etc. to voluntear@projectscotland.co.uk and remember kids; with great power comes great responsibility, and with great e-mails comes £55!

ProjectScotland is a Scottish registered charity (SC035464) and is a company limited by guarantee (SC267476) with its registered office at 20 Hopetoun Street, Edinburgh, EH7 4GH.