Volunteer: Elizabeth Baillie
Age: 17
Placement: Fablevision 

“Taking part in ProjectScotland really gave me something to focus on.  I really believe that if I had continued in the direction I was heading I would just be sitting at home drinking and smoking with nothing else to do.”

Elizabeth Baillie left school after completing her Standard Grades and spent a few months working in retail and call centres which didn’t really fit with Elizabeth’s dream job as an actress.

She heard about ProjectScotland through a friend and got in touch to find out about placements.  “I felt a bit daft phoning up and saying I wanted a placement where I could be an actress – I didn’t really think there would be anything like that so I was really surprised when I got the phone call to say that there was a space for me on this media placement in Govan.”

Although Elizabeth has had a fairly chaotic lifestyle, including periods living in a hostel, she presents herself as a very confident and outgoing young person and this was reflected in the work that she carried out with Fablevision.

Elizabeth took a lead role both as actor and coordinator in the group filmmaking project, Govan Ghost Story.  She liaised with people in the local community to arrange filming locations and took on a starring role in the film.  The film was shown at the Govan Film Festival in winter 2009.

Her biggest achievement was telling her story in front of a large audience at the BBC Scotland headquarters in Glasgow.   Elizabeth revealed that she had been on a wrong road in life and that the opportunity given to her through ProjectScotland to work at Fablevision was key to turning her life around.

Thanks to the encouragement of her ProjectScotland mentor, Elizabeth is now at college studying Art, Design and New Media.