Fantastic Volunteering Award For Former Pupil Melissa James

Final year Psychology undergraduate Melissa James (a 2013 Bablake leaver) has received a prestigious award from the University of York.

Melissa's excellent, extensive voluntary work has won her the 2016 York Award 'Volunteer of the Year' accolade. The criteria for receiving the York Award in itself demand skills highly valued by graduate employers, meaning the award acts as an impressive employability certificate to receive alongside a degree. However to win the sole Volunteer of the Year award is even more pleasing.

We asked Melissa about the voluntary work she had done to gain this recognition:

"I have been volunteering for NightSafe since it began in 2014. This involves a team of student volunteers patrolling the city in the evenings (11pm - 3am) to make sure party-loving students and members of the public return home safely. We give out bottles of water, administer first aid if necessary, arrange transport home for people, and generally reassure those who are worse for wear. We also liaise with the doormen at clubs, the police and city cameras. We help take the strain off the emergency services at night and receive really great feedback from everyone involved!

I also volunteered at Bootham Park Hospital, a psychiatric hospital which unfortunately has since closed. I worked in an information hub for service users and staff, where I would chat to anyone who came by and give out information about local events and useful services. I always used to visit the wards to speak with service users and promote the hub.

Finally, I have been involved with the University of York's mental health awareness project, an initiative I helped create a couple of years ago. Here I would issue information and put on events to raise awareness and understanding of mental health and mental health issues. This has grown really quickly and gained a lot of interest. So much so that last year we were proud to be announced student group of the year.

I applied for the York Award because I had done a lot outside my course, but to actually win the Volunteer of the Year award was a complete surprise!"

We are incredibly proud of Melissa's achievements and she has had a brilliant last few weeks, since, alongside fellow former Bablake pupil Lois Miller, she has also been offered a place for a Master's in Clinical Psychology at the University of Warwick with an NHS placement.

The only thing that could improve Melissa's world now might be winning tour tickets for life to see Muse as she is surely their biggest fan and has just enjoyed a few nights of their latest tour in between studying hard for her finals!

(#BablakePupilsEverywhere No 19)

To read more a press article about Nightsafe, please click here.

(Photograph scanned from a University of York magazine)