Every year, International Youth Day is an opportunity to celebrate young people and the difference they make in their communities.
Here in Clackmannanshire, young volunteers are giving their time, sharing their skills and helping to make our communities stronger. From supporting local activities to making sure young people’s voices are heard, their contribution matters.
This International Youth Day, we’re celebrating one of those young volunteers: Seren McNaught, winner of the Young Person of the Year Award at Clackmannanshire’s 2026 Volunteers’ Week Awards.
More than 500 hours of volunteering
Since registering for Saltire Awards in 2022, Seren has achieved an incredible 546 hours of volunteering. In fact, she was one of only two young people in Clackmannanshire to reach this award level during the 2025/26 financial year.
Over the past five years, Seren has volunteered with Active Clacks, Sauchie Rainbows, Lornshill Academy and the Clacks Citizens Panel.
Through these different roles, she has helped create opportunities for other young people, promoted inclusion and made sure young people’s voices are represented.
Making activities more inclusive
As a volunteer with Active Clacks, Seren has supported children’s sports camps and family wellbeing events during school holidays for the past five years.
She has also volunteered at local swimming sessions, helping to promote water safety, and supported ASN tubing sessions at Firpark Ski Centre.
Importantly, Seren wanted to make these activities as accessible as possible. Therefore, she completed Makaton in Sport training to support her volunteering at ASN tubing sessions.
Her commitment to inclusion has also gained wider recognition. Seren was shortlisted for a 2025 Young Scot Award for inclusion in sport.
Supporting young people in her community
Seren’s volunteering doesn’t stop there.
For more than four years, she has volunteered with her local Rainbows. Through her weekly commitment to Girlguiding, she helps young girls to develop their confidence and build friendships.
At Lornshill Academy, Seren oversees the school’s blazer recycling scheme. She even learned how to sew so that she could help repair blazers and give them a new lease of life.
Beyond this, Seren is a skilled Highland dancer and regularly performs at local care homes for esidents. She was also the first young person to join the Clacks Citizens Panel, helping to ensure that young people’s voices are heard in local conversations.
Celebrating young volunteers this International Youth Day
Seren’s contribution has rightly been recognised both locally and nationally. Alongside winning Clackmannanshire’s Young Person of the Year Award, she has achieved the highest time commitment award available through Saltire Awards and completed her Gold Duke of Edinburgh Award.
However, Seren’s story also represents something much bigger.
Across Clackmannanshire, young volunteers are using their time, ideas and experiences to support the places where they live. They are helping local organisations deliver activities, making spaces more inclusive and bringing young people’s perspectives into decisions that affect them.
International Youth Day is a chance to recognise that contribution.
So, today we’re saying a huge thank you to Seren and to all the young volunteers across Clackmannanshire who are making a difference.
Could you become a young volunteer?
Inspired by Seren’s story?
If you’re aged 11–25, volunteering is a great way to support something you care about while building skills, gaining experience and meeting new people.
Young volunteers can also have their volunteering recognised through Saltire Awards, the Scottish Government’s national youth volunteering awards.
Whether you volunteer regularly or give your time when you can, every hour can make a difference.
This International Youth Day, why not discover where volunteering could take you?
