A little bit of help from our friends....

Hello everyone,

So it's time for another quick update about my week. The highlight was definitely my first meeting with my mentor yesterday. Rohit Shin is an osteopath / generally inspirational man! I have known Rohit for a few years and feel that he's the ideal temperament for a mentor. To clarify, here are the reasons why every volunteer on the project should have one:

Mentors....

* ..draw on their own wisdom and experience to pick you up when you're down

*.. have had years of working in their industry - and so can provide you with practical guidance about how to get where you want to be

*.. are inspirational figures who believe in everyone's potential

*..will teach you how YOU can then mentor others!

I will be seeing Rohit for another chat within the next few weeks. I'll post some more info about him and his work on the website!

Until next week :-) 

Emily

Getting to know each other ;-)

So I thought I'd write my blog on a slightly different theme this week - namely what wonderful people you can meet through volunteering. It's such a warm and friendly environment here in the Beethoven Centre. All of us volunteers now go out together after hours and generally have lots of fun! The picture I've shown is of me, Jeni and some friends at a Eurovision Party last Saturday. As some of you may know, Jeni is our creative maestro here at Re-Evolve. She more than excelled herself by making a dress out of gold wrapping paper. The whole experience was totally ridiculous and fantastic all rolled into one. Needless to say we won 'best dressed' - deal done ;-).

We've also had a really productive week here in the Attic of Dreams (as I like to call it)... . All plans are going ahead for our careers event on the 18th and 19th of June. Much of today was spent designing a great poster for it. Our new Prince's Trust group started yesterday, which made for a lively and very productive afternoon!

Catch you in a week ;-)

Emily

Carrie Ear's wish

Great news!

Our next Prince's Trust group is starting this coming Thursday :-) . We've spent much of the day preparing the structure of their time here. We'd really like to make the careers sessions productive and motivational for everyone. So far this has led us to make a Wish List for each new volunteer to fill in. These will be used to assess each person's career goals - and help make them come true!! We'll ask where their ideal placements would be and see what we're able to organise for them. Preparations turned funny after lunch (maybe it was the fiery pringles) and we decided to bring a comedy edge to the Wish List template. The journey of a Miss Carrie Ear will be revealed to everyone who attends on the day ;-) .

Sarah and Jeni's work on the website is looking BRILLIANT!! Check it out....

Emily X

 

Magnifique!

It's time for another event! This one's set to be a goodie just like the others. The plan is to have four workshops over two days on the 18th and 19th of June, here in the computer suite at the Beethoven Centre. The workshops will be an opportunity to offer some peer-to-peer advice to young people about their career direction. We'll be focussing on boosting confidence and releasing potential, writing a great CV and learning interview tips. The sessions will then end with volunteers contributing their own ideas to our website. Questions we want them to answer will be: Which careers websites do you really like? Why? What online links would you recommend for others on this path?

So we've now got a good sense of focus and excitement to make these days really fun and productive!

Other news...... ;-) 

I'll actually be away in France this time next-blog. WOO!! I'm going to have a lovely time relaxing in the countryside with my Dad and some friends... Hence the beautiful picture which may have seemed a bit irrelevant at the start!

A bientot!

Emily

 

Re-Evolve yourself ONLINE!

This has been a really exciting week here. Yesterday we started setting up our very own website!! www.re-evolve.ning.com will now be personalised to our every wish! The first stage in this process is to really bring the feel of our brand to the appearance of the site - which Sarah has been making an AMAZING start on today. In my usual standard of German Sarah (just for you..) "Du bist legend!"

So the work really starts here to develop our online presence. It's so important that Re-Evolve can be a project that young people can interact with in a fun and inspiring way. A website is the ideal platform to download videos, blogs and placements write-ups. Thanks to our recent Prince's Trust group, we already have some great experiences to be downloaded and read by others. It's such a great thought that young people can help to motivate each other - we have to all know that we can do it!! WHATEVER it is!!

Time to head off for a lovely weekend now. Enjoy yours ;-) 

"Which Bird Are You?"

Hello everyone, 

So we've had another productive week here! Plans for the website are up and running and we're all set to get a big set of resources for it. Our Prince's Trust volunteers will be returning from their placements next week, to be greeted with our questionnaires and video cameras! We're really keen to make the most of their experiences whilst out on placement, in order that others can benefit from the lessons they've learned.

The type of things we're interested in are: "How did you handle the difficult things that came your way? What were some of the best bits? Do you now want to enter into this field?"

Using some video footage will also help to make the website a really interactive and much more exciting place to visit ;-).

So best get on with the day's work!

Will check in again soon,

Emily

P.S. Other good news from this week, is that I now get to tutor my own Homework Club! This club forms a part of a number of great educational projects run by Vital Regeneration. The kids can come and work in what is a really supportive and encouraging environment. Who says homework can't be inspiring! In a game of "Which Bird Are You?" the other day, one child concluded that I was a parrot... ;-) . I've decided to definitely take this as a compliment!

Market Research out in Westminster!

I'm really pleased that we had such a successful Market Research Day here at Re-Evolve. The core group of volunteers (Myself, Laron, Sarah, Wade, Richelle and Laurance) were joined by around twenty other volunteers! This included our Prince's Trust group, all of whom responded brilliantly to the task.

Our first goal was to go out onto the streets of Westminster and collate as much information as possible. The strategy for this was to find young people between 16 and 25 who were willing to complete our carefully designed questionnaire. The whole point of the day was to investigate exactly how the young people of Westminster would like us to set up the website. It must be innovative and fresh, so THEIR INPUT IS VITAL!

I was delighted with how my team carried out the whole day. What a lovely and hardworking group of people. Special credit must go to Ricardo, one of our Prince's Trust group. He successfully ensured our admission into Westminster University's Students' Union. This meant that we could gather really valuable information from a large number of volunteers. Fantastic work Ricardo!

The group was then really committed to analysing our information that afternoon. The whole day wielded some excellent data. Our next task must be to collate more resources and start to form the website!

Thanks so much team for a really brilliant day :-) .

Serving the community

So I thought I'd give another update on how the project's progressing with our new manager, Victoria. Our Princes Trust group of volunteers has given us loads of fresh impetus. Our next task will be to make sure they can all really benefit from the project whilst helping to build an informative resource for those to come. It's been really rewarding to see how the Re-Evolve process is taking shape. It's vital that we know we're helping young people in Westminster to achieve their goals. The same applies for the core of us who have been with the project for up to six months now. I really enjoy the journey of recognising each others gifts and planning where we can go with them. It always feels good to tell somebody something so positive that they have never seen in themselves!

I'm posting a picture of our ever creative full-time volunteer, Sarah. She's making exciting progress on her path too :-).

I'll check in again very soon!

Emily

Saying YES!

"Say YES to the seedlings....

And a giant forest cleaves the sky.

Say YES to the universe...

And the planets become your neighbours.

Say YES to dreams of love and freedom...

It is the password to UTOPIA."

Can you tell we've been having life coaching at Re-Evolve???!!!

Thanks Fiona!! XXX

Fantastic Team Re-Evolve!

What a great couple of weeks! We've been joined by a wonderful new group of volunteers from the Princes Trust. The room's never felt so full of potential! Most of the new members already have a placement - so we'll be helping them to use their experiences to contribute to the careers resource :-) . For those who haven't yet got a placement, we'll help them to find some other great opportunities. 

There's been a really good buzz about the place now that we have quite a few new volunteers! The next step is to start collating some really valuable information so that we can get the website up and running. At least we have a great group of really inspiring people who want to make it all happen!!

Come and see us for a chat if you want to join the project :-).

X x Emily x X

 

Come to our Induction Day!

We're all learning so much here at the moment. Planning presentations has kept us very busy and stimulated for the week. All our preparations will culminate in a great day of chatting with potential volunteers on February 18th. It'll give anyone whose interested in joining the project a chance to ask any questions over a nice hot drink and a biscuit or two! If you've got a career you're interested in entering but you don't know where to start, now could be your time to get going :-).

So time for us to continue with preparations!

Hopefully see some of you on the day,

Emily

Another good week!

We've spent this week organising our presentations! It's been great to sit as a group and discuss what the project means to us. The end result will be a really good pair of presentations, one to share with business colleagues and the other to share with future volunteers. We're learning so much from the group collaboration required for this type of work. It's also fun to go slightly mad trying to phrase things exactly as you want them! We're keen to get across Re-Evolve's message in an inspiring and exciting way. Any of you who come along to the inductions mid-february can tell us what you think!!

We think it's all coming together :-).

Positive Plans!

Hello everyone :-), Time for a proper update! This week we've welcomed our new manager Victoria into our Re-Evolve team. The sun is shining on us! Progress so far has been very inspiring and all of us have been motivated to volunteer more of our time to the project! We've implemented a few very exciting changes to the Re-Evolve process. The most important is our plan to offer placements for all new volunteers. This will provide all of us with a fantastic 'real-life' chance to get to know our industry of interest, whilst updating the website with our views and questions. The result will be a website that feels alive and continually buzzing with careers advice. In the longer-term, the scheme can massively benefit young people in Westminster who need a helping hand to manifest their potential :-).

So our next move is to form partnerships with businesses and get the placement scheme well underway. We will keep you updated with the process! 

Emily