Volunteer role still adds up for 79-year-old Jan

Andrew Mathieson
WHOEVER said you can’t teach an old dog new tricks never met 79-year-old Jan Burrell.
Old, yes. But dog? More like dog-tired.
Bosses had to push the office worker out the door when she was aged 69. Then Geelong Otway Tourism asked volunteer Jan to have “a rest” at 75.
So now she is mentoring year seven maths students.
But all the class work doesn’t seem to worry Jan.
“I just like maths,” she smiles.
Her latest role began six years ago when she went back to school to study VCE maths. So good were the Geelong West retiree’s final marks that she now helps teach the subject at Corio’s Flinders Peak Secondary College.
“I’ve never been one to just sit at home,” she says.
“I’ve always been active.”
Jan jokes that the last time she said X and Y together was at the start of the word xylophone.
Algebra was fairly new to her but now it’s not a problem.
“Even though maths has changed, you can easily pick it up,” Jan insists.
Relating to teenagers in a classroom can be the biggest challenge.
Jan shrugs her shoulders, saying some students may think she is just a “fly-by”.
“Some accept you and some don’t,” she says.
“It’s just like life.”
Timehelp national manager Lisa Kingman said volunteers like June were needed to fill vacancies in classrooms.
After beginning in Geelong in 2005, the volunteers program now has 35 retiree mentors in 12 high schools. A further 100 work in 45 schools across the country.
“Parents volunteering in schools have definitely dropped off and predominantly that’s because most parents are either working, although some may have other things they are involved in,” Ms Kingman says.
The program’s one-to-one attention from retired mentors for struggling students had been a success, she said..
“A lot of the kids we work with don’t have grandparents or don’t know them.”
City Hall used this week’s Victorian Seniors Festival to recognise the efforts of program volunteers for putting in more than 15,000 hours.