Kay, 11, has been working with her mentor for just over five months. The Kids Network matched her with Cherry, a young professional working in the not-for-profit sector. Cherry has spent almost 30 hours giving one to one support to build Kay’s confidence by trying new things, thinking about future aspirations and most importantly, having fun.
Cherry said, “I became a mentor because wanted to give something back, to give that guidance and support. I’m the oldest in my family but I wish that when I was younger that I had had an older sister figure, that cool older person at that key time when you really needed someone.
Just because you are from a certain background or certain age, doesn’t mean you can’t be whoever you want to be. There’s a big disconnect, we are all people at the end of the day and we were all once children. I’m still young at heart! You can learn so much from other people, especially children – they don’t hold back!”
When we asked Kay what she thought of her time with The Kids Network she said, “I like art and I like writing. The best thing about my mentor is that we can talk and we can have a giggle.
Cherry is a nice person, we have a lot of fun, when we go for bubble tea we try all different kinds of flavours, we go to the park sometimes and we go on the swings and to the library.
I can talk to her a lot and I can have a laugh with her, we have stuff in common.
It makes me feel a bit better to have a mentor. I don’t want her to go, I want her to stay with me.”
Cherry has also seen the positive changes through her time with Kay, “I’m so glad that in the short amount of time I have been mentoring K, such incredible changes have taken place within her already. I believe that If she continues to develop in this way, her transition into secondary school will be so much smoother.
It helps to remind me of why I joined up with The Kids Network in the first place and shows just how much of a positive impact mentoring can have on those young people who need it the most.
I’m hoping that it will be one of those times in Kay’s life that she looks back fondly on and has helped in some way to shape the incredible woman she will grow up to be.”