Volunteer: Megan Sawyers

Age: 17

From: Edinburgh

Placement:  Smilechildcare

 “I didn’t like school because I felt like I was treated as a kid.  My ProjectScotland placement helped me to feel independent and gave me my first taste of the work environment.”

 Megan Sawyers left school at 16.  Although she has a lot of enthusiasm for learning, she did not like being treated as a kid at school.  After leaving school she attended a 6 month Introduction to Creative Arts course at her local college but could not find any employment when the course finished.  Megan was not sure where to go from there until her older brother who has also volunteered with ProjectScotland recommended ProjectScotland to her.

 Megan Sawyers became a ProjectScotland volunteer with Smilechildcare as a Volunteer Nursery Care Worker in March 2009.  To begin with Megan was not sure if she would like her placement because she was not keen on young children but she found that she really enjoyed her placement from day one and by the end of her placement she had grown to enjoy working with the toddlers.

 On her placement Megan got to work with young children aged 2-5 years old.  Through her placement Megan learned about child development and took part in projects which introduced the young children to people in their communities such as firemen and the police.  She also took part in child protection and health and safety training.

Megan really enjoyed the support and friendship of her colleagues at Silechildcare who made her feel very welcome and were happy to show her the best techniques and methods for dealing with young children.

The most rewarding part of Megan’s placement was when she returned to the nursery after being off sick for a while.  The children were really excited to see her back and had missed her a lot.  Their obvious affection for her made Megan realise the value of the voluntary work that she was doing with them.

Megan’s ProjectScotland placement has encouraged her to pursue a career in social work and in September she will be returning to college to study Higher English, Psychology and Sociology.  She hopes that with these Highers she will be able to further her studies at university. 

“ProjectScotland has been great for me.  It has given me the responsibility I needed and working with young children has helped me to become more tolerant and have more patience with people.”