Interview with Kayleigh Williams, 4th February 2017

Description

Oral history interview with Kayleigh Williams, who was a volunteer student mentor at Cardiff University.

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The Chronicle Project is a community heritage project supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund and run by VCS Cymru with the aims to document the history of volunteering in Cardiff, from 1914 to 2014. Visit our website at: http://chronicle.recueil.net/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/chronicleVCS/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/vcs_chronicle

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We will now begin recording the interview with Kayleigh Williams. The recording takes place on the 4th February at Cardiff Central Library. The volunteers present are Liz Williams and Lara Taffer

And this recording is going to be collected as an oral history and will be part of the Chronicle Project, a project led by VCS Cymru and funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund.


LW = Liz Williams (interviewer), KW = Kayleigh Williams (interviewee)


LW: Can you begin by telling me a bit about yourself please?


[0:22 - 0:40 : Kayleigh introduces herself]
KW: Okay, so as you said my name is Kayleigh, I’m originally from Southampton but am now a student at Cardiff Uni(versity). And when I was at university doing my undergrad(uate) degree, I was involved in Cardiff University’s mentoring scheme which was voluntary.


LW: Okay, What was your role within that scheme?


[0:44 - 1:37 : Kayleigh’s role as a mentor at Cardiff University]
KW: So, my role was to meet with first year students on a fortnightly basis, and to just answer their queries and help them settle into Uni(versity). So we’d have sessions each fortnight, and they would be tailored, so first there would be icebreakers and trying to get everybody to get to know each other. And there would be other sessions where we looked at housing and essays, because obviously when you start uni(versity) it’s such a big jump from having been at home and having done A-levels, but there's quite a lot that you need to get to grips with, and sometimes it was much nicer to get to speak to somebody that had already done some of these things rather than going to your lecturers who of course are going to help you with the academic stuff, but you can't really go to them “oh, do you know where is a nice area to live in Cardiff”, so yes.


LW: So, do you think you impacted on those students lives?


[1:42 - 2:55 : what students got out of the mentoring scheme]
KW: Yes and no . . . when you met up with the students each fortnight, you’d get different students turn up and you know different students got different stuff out of it. Especially when we did housing and going to estate agencies and looking at fees and who you should be living with and things like that, loads of people would turn up for that because that's the sort of thing that causes arguments in first year, when you’ve got a flat of eight and you’re like, “actually I don’t want to live in a flat of eight”.

So people really benefited from that, other people sort of heard what the scheme had to say and were like, “actually I think I’ve got this sussed”, so decided that they didn't want my help, but that happens. And then you have other students who really came to rely on the programme, so they would meet up with you every fortnight without fail and you wouldn't necessarily end up talking about what you planned to talk about, something might have come up in the week and they would have been like “oh actually this has come up, can we go through this?” and we would, so people really did benefit from it differently.
LW: So, what do you think your biggest achievement was, during the time?


[3:02 - 4:00 : What Kayleigh gained from volunteering]
KW: Definitely passing on the knowledge that I had, when I got to uni there was so much I didn't know I didn't understand how housing worked or how to pay bills, and just basic things that everyday people get on with that you don't learn and you don't actually get from going to a lecture. So it was really nice, to pass that on to people and actually have them learn from some of the mistakes I made, because the scheme wasn't in place when I was a first year at uni(versity) so I would have really benefited from someone saying; maybe don't go to that estate agent, or maybe take some time to think about getting a house rather than rushing into something, because there's this whole idea that people panic and the houses are going to run out, but they don't run out there's lots of houses so yes I think just getting across my knowledge and to particularly help somebody is definitely what I achieved from that.


LW: Can you think of a particular individual that you influenced the most?


[4:07 - 4:54 : Kayleigh’s influence on a particular student]
KW: Yes so I had one student who, turned up every fortnight without fail and she had a lot of difficulties settling in, and she didn't necessarily gel with all of her housemates at first and part of it was like, she was like “I know it’s sort of my fault because, I could make more effort here” and so we would discuss what she could do and how she could maybe put herself out there and maybe feel more confident, so that she could sort of bridge the gap with her housemates and be happy. Because, it's one of those things at uni(versity) that it’s so important to try and be happy and try and make that effort which I think everybody realises straight away, or struggles with.


LW: Did you work closely with your fellow volunteers during this time?


[5:01 - 5:57 : Working with other volunteers]
KW: Yes, so we had once a month meetings where we would get together with history mentors because I was within the history school, but you’d get together with other schools as well, so dentistry, earth sciences, so you’d get to hear about their experiences and share ideas as to how to overcome problems, because it wasn't a perfect scheme so there were things that did need ironing out, so yes we did work together when I did this role it did eventually lead onto a paid role where I ended up working with other consultants, but we then actually had to organise the volunteers and get them to get involved with other things and organise socials so as the role went on and progressed I got to get more involved with other people definitely.


LW: Did you have any frustrations when you were volunteering? Or anything you think you could have done better?


[6:03 - 7:31 : Room for improvement as a mentor]
KW: [Sighs] Loads [Laughs] it was really rewarding but when you say to a group of 15 people we’re going to have a meeting on such and such day can you let me know if you're going to attend or not, and then one or two responds you're like okay, so I assume i'm seeing 2, so then when 8 turn up your like, I’ve not prepared for 8 of you to turn up, so that's a bit difficult but then it's just one of those things sometimes people don’t realise that responding and saying you are or aren't going to attend, can have repercussions so that was a bit frustrating. I would say that I was awful at time management so I should have done that a lot better, I would prepare a session the night before at first thinking, do you know what? they won't have very many questions and in the first couple of weeks they had loads of questions, so it wasn't aswell organised as it could have been and had I gone back and done it again or had another set of freshers to help, I would have planned it much better and I would have put more time into planning it because you can't just plan to help somebody the night before you need to actually think about it and try to structure it, which I did get to structure it more as the programme went on. But at first I was awful, I put my hands up [hold hands up] I did bad but I did improve.


LW: Do you think you’ll take part in volunteering like that again or would you rather move onto something else in the future?


[7:41 - 9:04 : History based volunteering]
KW: It’s difficult to say because I guess it depends on the opportunity that comes up, I really enjoyed what I did as mentoring and volunteering because as I say you got to pass on your own experiences you got to help people, and you actually learn things from other people at the same time which was really influential and you also got to meet lots of different people which helped. So depending on what the scenario was it might be something i'd look into again, but where I am now in studying for my Masters and volunteering in oral history I think I want to try and keep it a bit more focused and focus on volunteering in the heritage sector and maybe even getting more, more . . . just being more involved with the wider community and talking about history in the wider community and things like that, because local history has become such a big thing so that would definitely be where my interests are with volunteering now and I obviously felt that with having volunteered with Cardiff Uni(versity) you get very involved in that Cardiff Uni(versity) community but I think, theres university community and then there's this much wider community, which I think that if you stick to your university circle you don't get to embrace that wider community.


LW: So you've mentioned the wider community, do you think volunteering does allow the wider community to integrate and come together?


[9:12 - 10:08 - Huge variety of volunteering opportunities]
KW: I think so definitely, I think there's so many different things out there now for people to get involved with so you know where I did mentoring, there's counselling now and discussion groups and even on the local history side of things there so much you can get involved with so I think it does help the wider community because you don't have - you know I think all these different interests are catered for, so it's not completely niche anymore there's so much out there that it does benefit and I think also when you take on these opportunities, you find yourself getting involved with something that you might not necessarily realise and you realise you have all these other interests, so yes I think it definitely benefits and does more for the individual, in getting involved and then also has benefits for those who get to see this volunteering and place.


LW: So, what motivated you to volunteer in the first place?


[10:14 - 11:07 - Mentoring scheme at school]
KW: Well when I was at school we had a mentoring scheme, where we helped year seven settle in and helped them with their homework and things like that, so I really enjoyed doing that at school so when I saw the opportunity come up at Cardiff Uni(versity) I was like, actually i'd really like to get involved with that, I really enjoyed doing that at school and i've learnt so much in the last year and, it was the sort of mindset that I was in when I applied for the role that I actually think I could hopefully help some people avoid some of the mistakes I made and, just learn a bit more and do something outside of your studies because its so easy to get wrapped up in what you're doing at Uni(versity) in terms of lectures and seminars that you forget there's this whole other world out there that exists.


LW: So would you say volunteering is a brilliant thing to do? or do you think volunteering is a good thing to do along your studies?


[11:15 - 11:55 - Gaining skills]
KW: Oh definitely I think it's one of those things that the sooner you get involved with the better, because I think it opens you up to so many different opportunities it's really beneficial for the person themselves but also the wider community and I know from my first year of studies I didnt, do alot I had all this free time that I could have put to much better use and not only could it have helped somebody else but, I would have gained some more skills from it because, a degree is great but you need so much more than a degree you need these other skills that you get from volunteering.


LW: So you’ve already touched on it but if you were to give some words of inspiration to someone thinking about volunteering, what would you say?


[12:04 - 12:43 - Words of wisdom]
KW: I would say you just have to go for it you're never going to know, the whole process inside out you may not have all the skills but you will develop those skills, when I did the mentoring I got all this training so even if you don't have the skills whoever takes you on will help you and they will train you and they'll be very patient about it because they want your help and I think also as well as just thinking about yourself and what you can gain, volunteering will help you benefit so many other people it's so rewarding so I would just say go out and do it and stop hesitating.


LW: So finally what does volunteering mean to you?


[12:47 - 12:05 - Giving to the community]
KW: [Sighs] That's a tough question . . . I would say it means putting yourself out there to gain knowledge and skills on the wider world but also to give back to a community or a cause.


LW: Okay, is there anything else you’d like to add before we finish?


KW: No I don’t think so


LW: Okay, thank you very much


KW: That’s okay.

• http://chronicle.recueil.net/collection/item/vcs_chronicle_oh_39 (link opens in new window)