CAS Conference 2014

This week saw the First Ever Child and Adolescent Studies Degree Conference - and I had the pleasure if being a part of it this last Wednesday.

Over two months in the making, and with the wonderful StEPs team joining us late last month to help make it a reality, we invited students and organisation representatives to talk about the power of volunteering, and how to apply what we have learned on our degree to our work field.

From crèche nannying to College lecturers, the university's Children Centre partnership with the local council, to The National Citizenship Service - I was amazed to see how diverse the experience and opportunities are to those coming from our degree. Students volunteered to speak for fifteen minutes about their experiences, hold poster presentations on their roles, and host promotional tables for the charities they were involved in. By the end of the day I was truly proud not just to be a part it, but to be a park of a community of professional learners to whom the sky is the limit.

Well done CAS students 2014, 2015 and 2016! X

StEPs

UoB came up with something new last year: Student Experience Projects (StEPs). An opportunity for students to bid for funding from the university to put toward university student led projects. I went along to one this week as I was presenting an idea (I proudly came in the runnings, cheers!) and found it to be quite exciting and nervewrecking at the same time. I've NEVER volunteered to do a presentation, but somehow got intertwined in this one, which had its perks. As a professional in human services you have to develop some kind of presenting and people skills, so I was glad to be pushed out of my comfort zone, and although I fumbled and threw away my disorganised flash cards halfway through, I was glad to have done it and I know I will get better next time.

There were four other bidders, each with a unique suggestion, but I have to say that each one of us really needed to do our homework better. I realised that as students, I haven't met many that imagine they can step out and do something original in the way of projects and enterprises (unless already on a business degree). We get this idea that we are learning theory and academia to find our place in the employment world...but what if that is not for us? What if we have something bigger and better and new inside of us to develop? Scary no?

As I said we all needed to do more homework in preparation for the Dragon's Den type event last Tuesday, as such I would recommend the B-Innovate Programme (a european course run right here in our UoB) or Prince's Trust Enterprise Programmes. Any avenue to teach you about business plans, projected cash flows, budgeting and logistics. Perhaps in Applied Social Sciences or my own Child and Adolescent Studies, opening your own project is not what you had in mind, but we don't know what the future holds and at best it is good to look behind the scenes what occurs in welfare economics and national budgeting even in a small way.