Ayesha Ali is not your average teenager.

The 16-year-old Haydon student spends her lunchtimes volunteering with older people through Northwood charity, Live at Home, which is why she has been nominated as a Gazette Local Hero.

Ayesha’s teacher Lucy Hall nominated Ayesha for being proactive, thoughtful and enthusiastic.

“She’s wonderful with the old folks,” said Ms Hall, head of humanities at the school in Wiltshire Lane.

“Ayesha gives tirelessly to the community and involves herself in a wide range of things.

“She gives a lot of her time.”

On Mondays, Ayesha joins four other students to go to Live at Home’s friendship group, which is held in the United Reformed Church in Joel Street.

Live at Home is a scheme set up to offer a befriending service to older people and help them remain independent for longer.

The year 11 student, who lives in Harrow, also helps some of the younger students in her school run a group which aims to combat racism, sexism and racial prejudice.

“She helped set it up and they meet once a week to discuss issues of discrimination and work to create more equal opportunities for people of different ethnic backgrounds,” explained Ms Hall.

Ayesha said it feels great to be nominated.

“It’s nice that people appreciate that doing things for your school and going to see elderly people who don’t get to talk to many people is a nice thing.”

She got involved with Kick it Out after she became a victim of racism.

“I was experiencing quite a bit of racial prejudice to me and was told by a teacher that that wasn’t normal, and then I realised other people were experiencing this too,” she said.

“I then decided to step up so other people wouldn’t have to go through this.”

Ayesha says she feels a great sense of satisfaction through her involvement with the schemes.

Ayesha was nominated in the under 18 category of the 2014 Local Heroes Awards. The ceremony will be on Thursday, June 5.

Nominate your hero using the form above in either the adult or under-18s categories, and consider whether the person is an outstanding young person, a carer, courageous citizen, fundraiser or champion of the community.

Our Heroes will get a £50 prize and Superheroes a £200 prize, plus the chance for a further £500 for being the overall Superhero Of Hillingdon.

There will also be commendation certificates.

We need YOU to nominate other worthy people for Local Heroes 2014 - especially in the under-18s category. There are plenty of other 'Ayeshas' out there, and we want to hear about them please.

Nominating is easy and takes about five minutes. Simply fill in the form below and click the button.