Meet our Mentors

Find out more about
our inspiring St Andrews student mentors…

  • Donald Campbell (MMath (Hons) Mathematics) was a mentee and later a mentor in the Incoming UG Mentoring Scheme. He was also School President of Mathematics & Statistics in AY 2024-2025.

    Let’s find out why Donald’s number one mentor, real or fictional, is his former driving instructor!

    Name three words you associate with ‘mentoring’:

    Collaboration, guidance, support

    You signed up to the Incoming UG Mentoring scheme as a mentee. How was having a mentor different from finding information about the University online?

    I did so much online research before coming to St Andrews and found a huge amount of information on the University website, via other sites and in forums, but the official online information was more business-like and obviously didn’t give me the opportunity to interact and ask the questions which really mattered to me. I needed to ask a student who had been there, done that, and who genuinely cared about answering my questions.

    My mentor and I got on really well and we were in contact almost daily.

    Did your experiences as a mentee influence your approach to later being a mentor in the Incoming UG Mentoring scheme?

    Absolutely! My mentor was fantastic. Getting answers to my questions really helped me to feel relaxed and fully prepared for my transition from state school to university life. I was so grateful for the experience and pledged to pay it forward by becoming a mentor. It makes such a difference.

    Would you recommend the UG Mentoring Scheme to potential mentees/mentors, and why?

    Definitely! The skills I’ve developed and experiences I’ve had over the past three years have given me so many talking points for applications and at interviews. Taking part in the scheme has also counted towards the Saints Skills Builder and Saints Skills Spotlight awards run by the University’s Careers Centre, and these are awards are added to your academic transcript. But above all, it’s just really nice and very rewarding to be involved.

    As the School President of Maths and Stats, you represented a large number of students. Were any of the skills you used in this role similar to those you developed and evidenced through mentoring?

    Yes, representing a large cohort of students requires patience, effective listening, clear communication and transparency. All successful mentor/mentee relationships mirror and develop these skills even though we don’t necessarily think of it in that way at the time. The mentee/mentor experience builds vital life skills – and it’s fun too!

    Finally, if you could choose anybody to be your mentor, real or fictional, who would it be?

    Personally, I’d need to be able to connect with my mentor, so I’d not choose a fictional character or anyone famous. Surprisingly perhaps, I’d choose someone humble like Tam, my driving instructor from 2021. He was ex-army, had served in war zones and had experienced real physical and mental struggles as a result. But he had moved on and knew he wanted to help people. He was highly intuitive and a great confidence builder as an instructor. He was always positive, patient and kind and he made me feel like I could achieve anything.

    We still keep in touch from time to time and he throws out a few words of wisdom for me about life in general. Everyone needs a mentor like that!

  • Do you have a student mentor you would like to nominate for a Meet our Mentors profile? Contact studentmentoring@ to let us know!

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