Update!

Hello, everybody!

I’ve been fairly busy doing things with all different members of the team, in the past month.

My main job as of late has been to photograph and film different events. It’s been really fun and it’s nice knowing that I can use my media degree and knowledge to help at work.

I’ve mainly been photographing Sussex Study Experience and Making Choices events. Here are some photos that I took of the year 12 students on the computing strand, on SSE! They had to make their own robots and then programme them to either follow a route based on colours, recognise different colours or work through Bluetooth.

 

I attended the Realising Opportunities Southern Conference on the 5th March at Goldsmiths University. I went to staff the University of Sussex stand in the exhibition hall as the mentees were all looking around at RO’s different partner universities’. They looked round with their mentors and would ask questions about the university, its subjects and the grade requirements as with RO, the student can get grade drops if they complete the programme.
It was extremely busy as there were so many students who wanted to talk to myself and an ambassador. My voice had started to go by the end of the two hours!
It was really nice to be there as I got to see contacts from other universities and organisations e.g. Brilliant Club and Sheffield University!

One of the nicest things about working in Widening Participation is that you make so many networks and connections with people so you will often bump into someone that you’ve already met before!

Something I should mention before I go any further is… I HAVE A NEW JOB! WOO!
I am officially no longer a Graduate Intern, but an Outreach Assistant!
I would have finished on the 14th June 2016, but I don’t have to leave anymore 🙂

From now, I will be doing mainly delivery for our partner schools, sixth forms and colleges. I will still be the Twitter manager and will continue to film and photograph some events. I am very excited for what’s in store.

For now, I will be writing as an Intern Alumni, but shall pass over the blog once the new Graduate Intern starts.

I hope you all had a lovely Easter and I’ll post again soon!

 

It’s been a while…

Hello everyone!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!It’s been a long time since I’ve posted, but I can’t tell you how busy we’ve been since Christmas! So to give you a little knowledge of everything I’ve done, I shall talk to you about some of the key events that have happened so far.

In the first week of January, a lot of time spent was preparing for the Sussex Study Experience ‘Team Building Day’. All of the students on the SSE programme met before Christmas, but their second days’ aim was to have lots of  fun and build on their teamwork skills. The events team and I put together several fun activities for the different subject groups to get involved in e.g. Helium Stick and the Photography Challenge. The day was a real success and by the end of it people were tired and happy which is a positive sign I think!!

I also went to present at a school talking about how to choose a university and course which I really enjoyed. It was nice to go out with an ambassador and work with the students as I hadn’t worked with the Outreach team in a while. I really enjoy giving presentations and it takes me back to my roots as a student ambassador!

In the second week, I attended the Brightside Conference which focused on the question, ‘How can one-to-one support help young people with their education and careers?’. There were many different speakers, some from universities around the UK, school children that mentored others, researchers and more.
It was really interesting to hear how others were using mentoring techniques and programmes to help support young people. Moreover, it was amazing to see students in years 7,8 & 10 speaking on stage to a large audience about their experiences of mentoring and being mentees.

Additionally, I attended a workshop on how to train people, with mentoring and tutoring in mind which was very useful and I will hopefully put into practice when training the SSE e-mentors I have recently hired.

 

In the third week, I travelled to London to visit two IntoUniversity centres to see what they were doing. The trains were severely delayed on my way up (when aren’t they!) And so I arrived during the training session for new IntoUniversity interns. It was interesting to see the differences and similarities between my own training and this training. Some of the activities we did were in preparation for working with primary students (some things similar to what we do at WP). After, the centre had a homework club for secondary students. There were many interns and volunteers for the students to seek help from and it was a nice quiet space, with friendly people so that the students could comfortably come in and do their homework.
I stayed at the Premier Inn in Shoreditch which was lovely and almost like a mini evening-holiday!
The following day I visited the other centre, helped with some administrative tasks followed by the primary homework club. It was a lot more structured than the secondary school club as the primary students needed options if they did not have any homework and were given opportunities to learn more about the extra-curricular subject that IntoUniversity was teaching.

At the end of the month, The Brilliant Club held a graduation at the University of Sussex. I had been organising this event for several months so it was really nice to see it come to life. It is the first time I have ever organised anything of that scale, or even an event for that matter! Over 300 people attended and I had many ambassadors and colleagues working too so it was a big thing for me and took a lot of preparation so that everything went smoothly. But, I can gladly say that everything went fine and it was a very successful day. It’s very rewarding when you see young people graduate from a programme that they have been on and produced a piece of work out of it that they are proud of. It’s one of the perks of the job, when you start to see the students we meet, realise the potential and be proud of themselves.
I did a keynote in the middle of the graduation and reflected back on my own graduation which was nice and nostalgic. I think it also makes graduation feel more real for the students as well as they can see the similarities in there’s and mine.

Overall, as you can see just from this little snippet, January was very jam-packed! I am going to try and not leave it so long before I write again and I will speak soon! 🙂

 

**Also, if you want to follow our WP department on Twitter, our handle is @sussexfirstgen

It’s Nearly Christmas!

Hi all!

So…it’s nearly Christmas! Everything has slowed down now, but last week was full on preparing for the SSE Welcome Day and the day itself.

We welcomed just over 90 year 12 students on to the Sussex Study Experience. They have all been placed onto a  subject where they will learn about a certain topic over 3/4 days. There are also opportunities for them to take part in extra-curricular activities too!

The day went brilliantly and everyone really enjoyed themselves and got to know one another. We are really looking forward to seeing them all for the next day which will be filled with team building activities.

At the end of the week, the WP team went to the Pelham Arms pub in Lewes for Christmas lunch. It was a wonderful day filled with laughter and secret Santa presents!

It’s quite quiet in the office now as people have started their Christmas break, but it will be a well-deserved break getting everyone rested for the new year!

 

Update!

 

Since getting back from Sheffield, I have been settling back into the Sussex WP work style and have been busily getting prepared for different projects.

One of my biggest projects at the moment is getting the goodie bag ready for the Sussex Study Experience welcome day! I have an art background as I did art in GCSE, photography at A-Level and media in my GCSEs and degree, but I definitely had no experience in buying and branding promotional gifts.
I visited a local merchandiser’s website and asked for samples and a quote for the items that the team wanted. It was strange having so much control over ordering the ideas and communicating with the product expert, but I felt really happy knowing that I was doing it and everything was going well!
We’ve started receiving the products now and they are all looking really good so far! I feel really proud of myself that I was given the opportunity to order, create and communicate and everything I did paid off!

As we get closer to Christmas, the office has got more Christmassy and there’s more festive spirit in the air. So, several days ago, after a hard days work the team watched Elf together followed by the Royal Family Christmas Special. It is quite strange this year to be working instead of feeling the pressure to hand-in work for deadlines. This time a year ago, I would be finished for the Christmas holidays, but it is nice that now that I am working we still do fun activities together. Although I’m working towards different events and projects, I’m finding it easier to deal with the pressure of deadlines or a lot of things to do as I can go home and stop thinking; rather than go home and keep on going like I was when studying!

The Last Couple of Days @ Sheffield!

Hi, everybody!

So, the last few days have been a whirlwind tour of meeting different people within the Widening Participation department at Sheffield and attending different events.

I have been really grateful for the opportunity to visit Sheffield University and learn the differences and similarities between the two Universities, (Sheffield and Sussex). I have met many different people, widened my network and broadened my appreciation for the work that the scheme does for students all over the country.

Whilst being across the country, I have also been able to embrace the culture of the city itself. It was really lovely to see how everyone had a great love for their home and how a lot of people still held a lot of traditional values.

I am coming home having learnt lots to take back to my team and have achieved a lot for myself. I now know that I can travel on my own far away from home and immerse myself into unfamiliar surroundings and get on just fine!

First Day at Sheffield University

Hey!

Today has been a wonderful day! I am incredibly pleased to say the day was great from start to finish.

I woke up around 6 am, utilising the in-room service to be woken by phone. I had breakfast in the restaurant which was lovely and set me up for the long day ahead.

I am always quite anxious to get to places on time and so being in a new place, I wanted to make sure that I had enough time to get to my destination. I had already printed out 3 different routes from Google Maps and asked at the reception desk for advice on how to get to the University. In the end, I put my headphones in and asked my Apple maps for directions. It was quite a warm morning, which I was pleasantly surprised at and the walk wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. I found my way to one of the entrances and found a map of the campus. Fortunately, a man passing by caught me looking lost and directed me to the Arts Tower which is where I was to be situated. The man really made my morning as it was a pure act of kindness which I really appreciated!

I found the tower and proceeded into the reception area. Upon being told where to go, I made my way to the lift area where I found myself looking at two lifts and opposite them was something that could only be described as coming out of Harry Potter! The tower has Paternoster lifts which have been there for many years and there are only around 3 others of these in the UK! I nervously stepped onto the lift and eventually got to the place I was meant to after getting off at the wrong place. Fortunately, another person helped me along the way!

I spent my morning talking to different members of the team about their role and the different types of activities that they do within the department. Around lunchtime, I left the University to go to ‘The Workstation’ which was situated around 15 minutes away. The event was to talk to students about Universities and Apprenticeships. It was really interesting to see how the event was set up and the other different people that were there to man a stand too.

Later, I made my way to another event taking place in the Diamond Building which is meant to look like a diamond from the outside – it’s similar to the thought behind the Gherkin building! I walked there as I wanted to get more of a feel for the area which I really enjoyed and was proud when I found the place! I was mainly watching the event unfold, but took some photos of people and the ambassadors attending and watched the first speech. It was a really nice, happy occasion as parents and students were being welcomed onto the start of a programme. There were a lot of beaming, proud smiles.

I really enjoyed my first day working with the team at the University of Sheffield and felt really at home because everyone was so welcoming. It really was a lovely day!

Travelling to Sheffield!

Hello, everyone!

Today I travelled to Sheffield as I am going to be shadowing the Widening Participation department at Sheffield University.

I have/had been feeling very nervous about the trip because it’s the furthest away from home I have been by myself. But, everything has gone swimmingly so far from morning to evening so I am feeling very positive.

I left this morning to catch the train to London from Brighton. I utilised the time as I had booked onto a Social Media training course that was taking place at, ‘The Hub’ in Angel. After the hour’s training, I made my way back through the tube to King’s Cross train station. Coming out of the underground, onto the train station, I made my way through the commuters and stumbled across a ginormous Christmas tree that consisted of Disney cuddly toys. It was an amazing sight and made my good day turn into a great one and it was only around 2.15pm!
After stocking up on food for the two-hour journey I found an unreserved seat (which is quite hard to find) and sat down with my laptop on, ready to watch some TV. It was a really nice journey and went really fast!
Stepping into Sheffield train station, reality hit again and I was very aware I didn’t know where I was. Nevertheless, I found the taxi rank and asked the driver to take me to my hotel.
The receptionist was really friendly and my room is amazing! The room has two beds to choose from, an en-suite, TV and in-room tea and coffee. So, I unpacked my things and had dinner. It was quite strange to go through the whole process by myself and eat dinner alone, but I had already started to feel a great sense of achievement. I knew that I was OK and I should feel proud of myself for doing all of this by myself.

Tomorrow is a new day and I will be meeting my new team for the rest of the week which again I am a little nervous about, but excited too!

A Little Bit About Me!!

Hello everyone, I’m Lauren and I am the Graduate Intern in the Widening Participation team at the University of Sussex.

I am going to be writing this blog to let you all know what I have been getting up to within the team.

I started my WP journey in year 8 where I was put onto the AimHigher scheme. In this, I got several opportunities to visit different Universities within Sussex, learn about finance to help with University, and find out about student life. After a trip to the University of Sussex, I knew that I had to go there after sixth-form.

I had always known about further education and just assumed I would go in the future, but never actually really knew anything about it before joining the scheme.
After getting the grades to get me into Sussex, I became an ambassador and even got to work with ambassadors that had taught me about Sussex! I mainly did campus tours and room shows and through this my confidence grew and I gained more and more experience in my role. I became a senior ambassador in my second year and was able to visit schools, colleges and sixth-form, careers fairs and more.

I graduated in Media Practice, but I knew I wanted to pursue a career helping inform students about the different choices they could make for their future. Thus, I became the Graduate Intern enabling me to gain more experience and deepen my knowledge of Widening Participation!