WATCH: Secondary School Pupil of the Year who became role model for others after volunteering overwhelmed by Highland Heroes 2023 award win
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Olivia Macleod was 12 when she joined the Tain YMCA Youth Committee – and she has never left!
Now 17, our Secondary School Pupil of the Year has put her spare time to good use, becoming a role model for others while clocking up hundreds of hours volunteering.
Despite a long list of achievements since her early life-changing decision to commit to volunteering and a number of accolades along the way, modest Olivia was visibly shaking when she went up to collect her trophy. She spoke afterwards of how much volunteering gives back to her.
Olivia signed up for the Saltire Award Scheme back in 2016, not only volunteering for Tain YMCA but also for various other clubs in the Easter Ross town. By 2019 she had completed her 500 hour Saltire Award and has assisted at various YMCA programmes including Lunch Club and Friday Fun Sessions.
She became one of only eight young people in the Highlands to receive the Saltire Summit Award for her ongoing commitment to volunteering within her community, clocking up an additional 1100 hours.
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Looking back, she said: "I used to go to the P7 club on a Monday night and you could put your name forward if you wanted to be on the youth committee. I put my name forward and I was chosen, and I’ve been on it ever since!
“We’re a group of young people from the Academy and we choose two people from each year group. We’re like the eyes and ears of young people so we get to make decisions on what events we want to put on. We’re representing young people. It’s good and it’s a nice group of people as well.”
She's no stranger to awards either having previously been named Tain YMCA Young Person of the Year and picking up the Ross and Cromarty Lord Lieutenant's Award for Helping Others.
The Secondary Pupil category was sponsored by DYW.
