Friends of GT Scholars – An interview with one of our scholars!

Friends of GT Scholars – An interview with one of our scholars!

Friends of GT Scholars Volunteers

And Friday rolls over once again! I hope you’re having a good day so far? The last couple of weeks we had a lot of fun interviewing volunteers, parents and scholars and in this week’s newsletter, I’d like to share a scholar spotlight with you. Also, I’d like to share more details about our Ambassador’s network we’re launching.

Spotlight on one of our young scholars – Ladan
I recently had the chance to speak to one of our scholars who was on the Bright Ambitions programme throughout the last academic year. Ladan is a  bright young lady with a great future ahead of her. Her goal this term was to move up to higher-level Maths set which she was able to achieve with the support of her volunteer tutor and mentor.  Read her full interview by following this link.

We’re launching an Ambassador’s network for our volunteers!
We’re looking for volunteers to become part of a network of ambassadors who are committed to helping us increase our reach through fundraising and representing GT Scholars at various internal and external events, forming new relationships and expanding our network of support. This role would suit someone who is naturally enterprising and would like to help raise the profile of GT Scholars. Click here for more information and to understand more about this volunteer opportunity.

Do you have a friend who would like to volunteer with us?
We’re getting closer to the start of a new academic year! Next term, we’re hoping to work with even more young people and we can only do this with your support! Over the next few weeks, we’re hoping to recruit more volunteers – just like you! If you know of someone who will make a great volunteer tutor or mentor, please forward this email to them and ask them to fill in this short form. We’ll then get in touch with them to guide them through the application process and have them ready to volunteer when the new term starts.

Have an awesome weekend!

GT Scholars is a not-for-profit social enterprise and registered charity. Our after-school tutoring, mentoring and enrichment programme is designed to help young people aged 11-18 achieve their academic and career aspirations. Visit our website if you’d like to know more about the GT Scholars Programme and how you can make a significant difference in young people’s lives.

 

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Scholar Spotlight: “It really helped me with my grades, to become more organised and be more proactive”

Scholar spotlight What's new? Young people

As part of our scholar spotlight series, we interviewed one of the scholars on the Bright Ambitions programme. Please watch the video above for the full interview. You can also find the transcript below.


My name is Tatiana and I am 13 years old and I am a scholar on the GT Scholars programme.

Why did you apply to join GT Scholars?
Well at first my grades weren’t that good so we were looking for a tutor and my mum was telling me that she saw something, so I was like, is that something you think I would like to try?. We saw a leaflet and that made me want to do it even more. So we ended up doing it and getting a mentor with it too.

How has your tutor supported you?
My tutors were very helpful, they helped me develop and get better at math and they helped to get my grades up and give me a little boost with my grades. We’ve done homework together. We’ve studied for exams and tests together, like anything I needed to do and if I didn’t have anything to do in my classes at school, then we would just go on things that they proposed.

How has the online tutoring been for you?
I really enjoyed the online tutoring because it’s easy to get or go somewhere in your house and video chat them and just start working. Also, you are in the comfort of your own home so you don’t have to travel out to go see them and I just find it overall easier and you have everything you need in your house so you don’t have to worry about taking things or forgetting things, everything is already here.

What were the mentoring sessions like?
Mentoring, it’s more of the mindset. I feel like that’s where I have become more confident and I have just become a better person with my mentor and that just really helped me with my lifestyle in general. I’d tell them about what I need and what is happening and when I tell them that this what’s going on and I need help with this, they’ll come back with an answer and tell me well this is what you should try and aim for and if I am missing something, they will ask me questions and I will be like well I need this too and they would just help me in any way.

How have the enrichment days helped you?
The first enrichment day was ages ago and I remember I was really scared for it and I just didn’t know what to expect from it. So when I walked in and we just sat down and just started talking and people came in and I just got gradually more comfortable and through the enrichment days I became more comfortable with everyone. With the mentor, I became more confident in myself so I got to talk to more people that didn’t make me that scared anymore and I just found them very helpful. There were lots of different kinds. Sometimes there was just a panel of people that came in, or sometimes you get involved and actually stand up and do things and get into groups with people, so they really vary but I liked all of them.

So my favourite enrichment day was the Dragon’s Den one, where we got to get into teams to create our idea or product and pitch it in front of judges. It was exactly like the real show, we just did everything the same, but obviously, it wasn’t the real show. I really liked it because I got to meet people, and I really liked the pitching and I obviously became more confident in myself so I wasn’t really afraid of presenting in front of a number people, so I was really happy with that because I noticed that lots of things have really helped me in this programme.

What have you enjoyed most about the programme?
So I’ve really enjoyed the enrichment days, well I loved really everything about it. Being able to go to the enrichment days and learn more things, and then having my mentor tell me things I did not know before and my tutor just explaining things and helping me understand and everything just helped me grow.

How has the programme helped you academically?
So before joining the programme, I was quite a laid back person and I wasn’t very confident in myself. But after I joined GT Scholars and got a tutor, I kind of gained self-confidence and became less laid back. With that in mind, I entered a math competition which I came third globally, which I am very happy about and I am proud of myself.

What goals did the programme help you to achieve?
Well, I wanted to achieve better grades and become more confident and not procrastinate and focus more. I feel like, over a period of time, I gained those skills and gotten better grades and I’ve become more confident, so I am happy.

What have you learned about yourself during the programme?
So before joining the programme I just wasn’t very confident. I didn’t really understand many things and still trying to understand how things worked and I just wasn’t very confident in myself. So once I joined the programme I just found my confidence and I could talk finally, and I did understand things and I knew I could do things and I knew I could do better than before.

What would you say to young people who want to join the programme?
So I would definitely recommend GT Scholars to other young people because it really helped me with my grades, to become more organised and be more proactive, have time management and have a growth mindset.

GT Scholars is a not-for-profit social enterprise and registered charity. We run after-school and weekend programmes that help young people achieve their academic and career aspirations. Our programmes include tutoring, mentoring and enrichment sessions for young people aged 11-18. Contact us if you would like to know more about any of our programmes and courses.

Volunteers and Friends of GT Scholars – Stories of success and upcoming opportunities!

Volunteers and Friends of GT Scholars – Stories of success and upcoming opportunities!

Friends of GT Scholars Volunteers

We’ve had a busy week at GT Scholars, but we are pleased to tell you that the Ready, Set, Go workshop was a resounding success. Thank you for helping to make it a success! Read on for more stories of success, details about upcoming workshops, and tips for volunteer mentors.

Listen to one of our spotlight interviews
As part of our scholar spotlight series, we recently interviewed a parent of one of the scholars on our Bright Ambitions programme. We are always keen to receive feedback from everyone who is involved in our programmes. This helps to understand our impact so we can make sure that we are making a significant difference in the lives of our scholars. You can listen to the full interview here.

Volunteers and facilitators needed at upcoming workshops
There are still a few workshops coming up this term that you can be a part of. We are looking for volunteers, workshop facilitators and event coordinators to help on Saturday the 16th and 30th of March, and Monday and Tuesday the 15th and 16th of April. All events will run from 10am to 4pm. Please contact us if you’re available to help on any of these dates.

How to make mentoring sessions impactful
Our latest blog post will help volunteer mentors or those interested in becoming a volunteer mentor to make sure their mentee gets the most out of their sessions. It shares 5 useful discussion points to get the sessions started and to keep the mentoring process on the best path. You can read the full post here.

GT Scholars is a not-for-profit social enterprise and registered charity. Our after-school tutoring, mentoring and enrichment programme is designed to help young people aged 11-18 achieve their academic and career aspirations. Visit our website if you’d like to know more about the GT Scholars Programme and how you can make a significant difference in young people’s lives.