globalbridge is proud to support the Power of 5 Network, now in its second year. The scheme aims to inspire and support young ladies through collaborative approaches to new experiences.
One of the participating students and globalbridge users was a Year 9 student from Jesmond Park Academy. With the support of her Careers Manager – Jacqui Strong, she kindly shared her reflective blog from the week.
I was given an amazing opportunity!
17/01/20 ‘Power of Five’ Intro
I was given an amazing opportunity as well as five other girls from my school and girls from three different schools, which I could not resist. We got to visit five different companies to get to do work experience: Virgin Money, Muckle LLP, Cundall, PWC and NBS. Normally I am seen as the loud, talkative one who sometimes has a bad attitude and is cheeky. I want to change that by coming in with the mindset that I will try everything and more. The main thing I learnt was about confidence and how it needs building just like muscles. If you wanted big muscly arms, you go to the gym and lift weights. It's the same with confidence! People normally see me as confident but when it comes to meeting new people, starting conversations and talking in front of new large groups of people, my heart skips a beat. This is my life and I want to make it as great as possible.
What I found interesting was how a person changed paths.
20/01/20 Muckle LLP 'Power of Five' Day 1
Today I visited Muckle LLP. In the morning, we talked about our achievements and how we see ourselves as well as what our friends see in us. After this everyone got paired with someone to work on a different sector of the company. During our lunch we got to talk to people with apprenticeships which was interesting as I didn’t know it was a thing. I would now like to do an apprenticeship. Finally twelve employees, who work at Muckle but in different sectors, came to let us ask them questions about their job. I think this was the best and most interesting part. I learnt how many different jobs there are in one company in law. What I found interesting was how a person changed paths. I came in with a positive attitude and loved day 1 of 5.
21/01/20 NBS 'Power of Five’ Day 2
Today we visited NBS which was a great experience. This is because the staff were friendly. Firstly we got a mini tour of the building. The way they transformed an old post office into a beautiful working environment is mind boggling. The main activity was to construct a roller coaster for a marble and see whose marble travelled the furthest. From this I realized I'm not the best at working as a team - so I'm going to work and improve it as I need to be collaborative. Later we talked about NBS values. Be curious, ambitious, collaborative, show integrity. We made poems about each one. I got to perform it whilst getting recorded. It was fun. I really enjoyed today's experience a lot more than I expected.
From this I realised I'm not the best at working as a team - so I'm going to work and improve it as I need to be collaborative.
22/01/20 Cundall ‘Power Of Five' Day 3
Wow! These three days have gone so fast. Today at Cundall, I found something I'm interested in. I never thought I'd like something in engineering. We went on SIMs to design a city. I didn't really enjoy designing it on the Ipad so instead I talked to the specialist planning consultant and city designer manager. As I asked them many questions, I got quite interested. Whilst designing you have to look at public happiness and if it's good for the world. Try to leave as little carbon footprint as possible, (I learnt what a carbon footprint is today too!). Overall I found this experience amazing and it opened my mind so much. I now know there are lots more careers than you would expect.
23/01/20 Virgin Money ‘Power Of Five’ Day 4
I would never have thought a finance company would look like Virgin Money. Originally I thought it would be men in suits in front of a computer or on the phone transferring people's money but it was certainly not like that! When we got a tour everyone was amazed is it had an arcade, shops, therapy rooms, salons and places to relax even though it was a working environment. Virgin Money offers apprenticeships, which because of this experience, I'm interested in. I learnt what it meant by the ‘culture of a company’. This experience was great and I learnt lots.
24/01/20 PWC 'Power of Five 'Day 5
The last day, it’s gone so quick! We talked about why women can do just as well as men. The speaker was inspirational and showed that our generation can make a difference in men and women having higher roles. Women are no lower than men so we will change this. Us women are powerful so we will do something about this. Finally we looked at what we learnt and developed over the week. Teamwork, communication and being respectful were the key areas I improved on.
I loved the Power of 5 experience!
I loved the Power of 5 experience and would love to have more like this again.
Marden High, Park View and Cardinal Hume also had students participating across the week with NHS BSA, Tesco Bank, Home Group, Accenture and Connect Health providing exciting experiences alongside those mentioned in this great blog.
Jacqui Strong, Careers Manager at Jesmond Park Academy said;
“Our students have had a great week! Having globalbridge profiles allows them to capture their achievements and experiences, so the journey does not end here. They can continue to build their profiles with further experiences and then use these to showcase their amazing talents to universities and employers, helping them secure a bright future.”
Marden High, Park View and Cardinal Hume also had students participating across the week with NHS BSA, Tesco Bank, Home Group, Accenture and Connect Health providing exciting experiences alongside those mentioned in this great blog.
All participating students have been able to capture this amazing week of experiences on their globalbridge profiles and can now showcase their new skills and talents in order to connect to exciting future opportunities.
Find out more about the Power Of 5 through their twitter feed here
Jacqui Strong is Careers Manager at Jesmond Park Academy
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