Leo loves to help at Digital Seniors.

Piers Fuller Reporter from News of Wairarapa

Leo's mum says he has always had a genuine love of and interest in people and has always found pleasure in helping anyone with anything. "He has always had an easy way about him and making connection with people in general.
Being a working parent there have been times when he has had to come along to classes I teach at Literacy Aotearoa and from very young he has had interest in my learners and what they are learning and taken opportunities to get involved when he can.
He started coming along to Digital Seniors with me in the same way, as a school holidays tag along on Wednesday mornings at the Masterton Library, but as with most situations he found ways to make himself useful by offering his help and connecting with everyone around him as they were waiting for help from one of our coaches.

People started asking where he was when holidays were over and he had to go back to school.

Leo was asked to volunteer at the Masonic village by one of the other coaches, Andre, who runs a group there and who had noticed that Leo was eager to lend a hand when he could. The group meets after school hours and extra hands are always welcome.

I am really proud of the skills he has learned at 13! Planning a learning session and taking in to consideration people's learning needs, making a presentation, answering on the spot questions and answering clearly. Thinking about the steps to a process and explaining them with patience and recognising the skills someone already has and the next steps to build on them.

He's always keen for some feedback and eager to try new things in his approach to be as helpful as he can be.

I'm very thankful for the Digital Seniors community, coaches and clients, for encouraging and valuing him and for their patience with his learning as well, they have helped him grow and develop so cool life skills!

Leo gets a genuine kick out of being able to explain something that might make someone's life and technology use a bit easier, and from learning about people and their lives and is eager to head off each week to lend a hand."