Life after being a Discovery Project Co-ordinator
“Hey, I’m Rhys and I was a project Co-ordinator at Discovery for 6 years. I joined up as a project Co-ordinator October 2016, as one of my A-level courses required me to complete a voluntary period of 30 hours. As a result of my major interest in LEGO, I was set to pick up the pieces (pun intended) of a dormant project initially titled the LEGO club. After sorting through previously donated LEGO, we ran our first sessions in April of 2017. I’m not sure when my initial 30 hours of time I had to volunteer for school elapsed, but I had stayed on for the entire academic year, and then for good measure, proceeded to volunteer for another 5 years. From there the project was able to take off, from setting up a consistent plan of action for how a session would run, to driving quite successful recruitment campaigns for volunteers, to receiving funding from Children In Need, and would officially become Building Blocks.
It was always a highlight to see the positive effects the project had on the community. Being able to watch the children we would work with for only 4 sessions go from shy and nervous to confident and outspoken, improving their communication with both the volunteers and their fellow pupils that they would work with. The children would regularly like to talk about any LEGO they liked to do at home, would occasionally ask the volunteers about themselves, and we regularly got comments at the end of sessions saying they couldn’t wait for us to come back next week.
Volunteering with Discovery has had a massive impact on my career. After finishing University, I have now gone into full-time work at a Welsh Comprehensive School as a Teaching Assistant, working 1-to-1 with children with additional learning needs, helping them with their school studies, something I likely wouldn’t have even thought about doing if not for the time spent and skills learnt of engaging with pupils of similar situations during the sessions, knowing how to communicate with them as an individual, being able to make adaptions to assist them, etc.
To anyone thinking of volunteering with Discovery, I would 100% say go for it. It’s so rewarding seeing the positive effect you have on the people you work with, and knowing that you can truly make a difference to someone’s experience in life.”
“Heia, Rhys ydw i ac roeddwn i’n Gydlynydd prosiect yn Discovery am 6 mlynedd. Ymunais fel Cydlynydd prosiect ym mis Hydref 2016, gan fod un o fy nghyrsiau Lefel A yn gofyn i mi gwblhau cyfnod gwirfoddol o 30 awr. O ganlyniad i fy niddordeb mawr yn LEGO, roeddwn i’n barod i godi’r darnau (pun a fwriadwyd) o brosiect segur a oedd yn ei nabod ar yr amser fel ‘LEGO Club’. Ar ôl sortio trwy’r LEGO a roddwyd yn flaenorol i ni, fe wnaethom gynnal ein sesiynau cyntaf ym mis Ebrill 2017. Nid wyf yn siŵr pryd daeth fy 30 awr gychwynnol o amser y bu’n rhaid i mi wirfoddoli am ysgol i ben, ond roeddwn wedi aros ymlaen am y flwyddyn academaidd gyfan, ac yna am fesur da, parhau i wirfoddoli am 5 mlynedd arall. O yna, roedd y prosiect yn gallu wir gychwyn, o sefydlu cynllun gweithredu cyson ar gyfer sut y byddai sesiwn yn rhedeg, i yrru ymgyrchoedd recriwtio eithaf llwyddiannus ar gyfer gwirfoddolwyr, i dderbyn cyllid gan Plant Mewn Angen, a byddai’n dod i’n abnabod yn swyddogol fel ‘Building Blocks’.
Roedd e’n bob amser yn uchafbwynt gweld yr effeithiau cadarnhaol a gafodd y prosiect ar y gymuned. Mae gallu gwylio’r plant y bydden ni’n gweithio gyda am ond 4 sesiwn yn mynd o swil a nerfus i hyderus ac ‘outspoken’, gan wella eu cyfathrebu gyda’r gwirfoddolwyr a’u cyd-ddisgyblion y byddent yn gweithio gyda nhw. Byddai’r plant yn hoffi siarad yn rheolaidd am unrhyw LEGO yr hoffent ei wneud gartref, yn achlysurol yn holi’r gwirfoddolwyr amdanynt eu hunain, a chawsom sylwadau’n rheolaidd ar ddiwedd y sesiynau yn dweud na allent aros i ni ddod yn ôl yr wythnos nesaf.
Mae gwirfoddoli gyda Discovery wedi cael effaith enfawr ar fy ngyrfa. Ar ôl gorffen yn y Brifysgol, rydw i bellach wedi mynd i waith amser llawn mewn Ysgol Gyfun Gymraeg fel Cynorthwyydd Addysgu, yn gweithio 1-i-1 gyda phlant ag anghenion ddysgu ychwanegol, yn eu helpu gyda’u hastudiaethau ysgol, rhywbeth na fyddwn i’n debygol o hyd yn oed feddwl am wneud heb yr amser a dreuliwyd a’r sgiliau a ddysgwyd gyda Discovery trwy ymgysylltu â disgyblion o sefyllfaoedd tebyg yn ystod y sesiynau, gwybod sut i gyfathrebu â nhw fel unigolyn, gallu gwneud addasiadau i’w cynorthwyo, ac ati.
I unrhyw un sy’n meddwl am wirfoddoli gyda Discovery, byddwn yn dweud 100% ewch amdani. Mae mor werth gweld yr effaith gadarnhaol rydych chi’n ei chael ar y bobl rydych chi’n gweithio gyda, a gwybod y gallwch chi wir wneud gwahaniaeth i brofiad rhywun mewn bywyd.”