Life In A Fijian Community: An Honest Experience

Catherine Gryffenberg has been volunteering in Fiji this summer. Here's what she had to say about adapting to life in a Fijian community and some of the highs and lows of immersing into a different culture:

Catherine's home in Fiji

A Fijian community is the warmest environment I've ever been welcomed into. Upon arriving in my village and being sandwiched into the arms of my Fijian mum, dad and siblings, I could tell it wouldn't take long to for me to call this 'my home'.

Catherine with her Fijian family

The lifestyle couldn't be more different to what I was used to, but isn't that half the charm? The water tank became the social hub in the morning with all the village children bounding over to say "Bula!" (wishing happiness and good health) amidst teeth brushing and water bottle filling. Before long I was spending dinner with my cousins and nephews and introducing the other people in the team to my brothers and sisters!

Student Diary: Volunteering in Sri Lanka

Student Volunteers Leaving NTU For Sri Lanka!

Some of the student volunteers set off to Sri Lanka this week! Here's a diary entry written by a few of the girls on the trip...

Travelling

The group met at Heathrow Airport, ready for an adventure. Our first flight was six and a half hours to Dubai. For one member of our team, it was their first time leaving the UK... ever!

After a plethora of movies, entertainment and (surprisingly) good airplane food, we made it to Dubai International Airport. It's the busiest international hub in the world and that was still the case at 8am!

"Today, kids, we're going to graffiti..."

One of the ways our Children's University (CU) pupils can earn stamps in their passport is by taking part in an art club.

The art clubs we put on are run by Nottingham Trent University (NTU) student volunteers. We went along to Carlton Standhill Infants' School to see how they were getting on...

This group of Year 2's were on the third week of art club which run for an hour every Thursday after school finishes. 

The Student Becomes The Master

It was only this week that someone commented on how 'heartwarming' it is that so many staff members in the SCCO department (Schools, Colleges, Community, Outreach) have been students at Nottingham Trent University.

Two of our Schools Liaison Officers, Amber and Julian, are keen to share their stories about transitioning from Nottingham Trent students... to Nottingham Trent staff!

Amber Page

"Whilst I was a student at Nottingham Trent University, I studied Psychology with Criminology. I was then lucky enough to be awarded a scholarship for a Multidisciplinary Masters in Business Management.

As part of my Masters Degree, I needed to find myself a short-term placement. 

I was ambitious and motivated so applied for a full-time position within the SCCO department at Nottingham Trent as a School Liaison Officer.

You Are Making a Difference

To round off a busy week of celebrating the great work of our International Volunteers, Nottingham Trent Volunteering wanted to say a big thank you to our International Volunteers.

A group photo of some of last year's International Volunteers.

International Volunteering at Nottingham Trent University has been ever-growing since the first group of students were funded to go to Romania in 2011. This year 34 students volunteered in Guatemala, Sri Lanka, Romania and Uganda for ethical, non-profit organisations.

Collect for Christmas

It's Christmas time and here in the Schools, Colleges, Community and Outreach department (SCCO), we see that as the perfect opportunity to up our charity work to make sure everyone in our community has a merry Christmas.

So, it's time for us to gather everyone's presents ready for the 'Collect for Christmas' scheme. The scheme asks staff across NTU's 3 campuses to support one, two or all three charities: Age UK, The Salvation Army and 'Stars' for children.

Jessica's International Volunteering Story

Jessica volunteered at Little John's House which is an orphanage in Romania. This was her first time as an International Volunteer. Read on to find out what encouraged her to offer her time and how she found the experience...

A Group Photo of the Little John's House Volunteers.

What Inspired Me:

I applied to volunteer with Little John's House in Romania after receiving an email about the international volunteering opportunities. I thought that volunteering for a great cause would be a good way to utilise my time in the summer holidays. It would also increase my experience working with children which is something I want to do in the future.

Sports Volunteer: Jess Stanfield

Nottingham Trent Sports Volunteering is a great way of helping the local community and keeping yourself active.

There are so many opportunities within Sports Volunteering like coaching and leading University sports clubs, organising sport projects and events and coaching young people in schools.

We really believe that it is beneficial to lots of aspects of your life. For example, coaching can help you gain confidence and also allows you to network within the community. 

It's rewarding! You'll be making a difference in the community by sharing your own skills and knowledge about your sport and engaging people to keep active and enjoy it.

We asked Sports Volunteer, Jess Stanfield about her experiences within the role to give you an insight into what it entails and how it has helped her during and after University.

Jess and her High 5 Netball team.

Ishmael's Diary: Guatemala 2016

This summer, the volunteering group travelled to Guatemala to do lots of proactive work for the people out there. Ishmael Niheeba Gordon was one of the volunteers on this trip and has given us a sneak peek of his diary whilst he was travelling.

The volcano in Guatemala.

Friday 8th July 2016

On the 8^th July, I travelled to Guatemala with my volunteering group via Houston, USA. It was 9 hours to Houston from Heathrow and we nearly missed our transit flight because the queue was extremely long.

Work experience in the SCCO department

The SCCO Building

Hi all, my name is Georgia, I am in year 12 and through my sixth form I have been doing work experience at Nottingham Trent University; week commencing 20th June 2016 to the 24th  June 2016.  You might think this sounds dull, maybe you’ve already got a part time job and you feel you’re already experienced, but let me tell you, this week has opened so many new doors for me, it’s provided me REAL ‘experience’. Throughout the course of the week I have taken part in a variety of different activities that have given me opportunities to learn new skills. I will talk you through what I have been up to.

Monday

Me and some of the SCCO staff  

Monday was my first day of work experience here at Nottingham Trent University and of course, I was nervous and I didn’t really have a clue what it was going to be like but I arrived with an open mind and a passion to learn. I went along with one of the SCCO staff called Lucy to a year 9 visit.  This involved telling the pupils more about university and what university experience would have in store for them. Throughout the course of the day there were various activities taking place, two of which were taster sessions which gave pupils an insight to the kind of subjects available at university. We then went for a tour around the City site to show the pupils the different areas of the university. This went really well and all the pupils were very interested. One room in particular room caught the pupils’ interest, the law room.  It is laid out like a real court room. Some pupils are hoping to do law in higher education so it benefited them to see this. On this day I learnt a lot that I didn’t know about university subjects and I really enjoyed looking around the university and getting a feel of what university life is like. It was also a chance to get my bearings on where I would be working all week.

Tuesday

 Court Room in the law building

On my second day I was feeling a lot more optimistic. I was based at Clifton campus which I didn’t get a feel for as much as I did the city site; it felt enclosed and had less of a vibe. I was taking part in a year 5 visit which I thoroughly enjoyed. The children were engaged and wanted to be there and the presenter, Tash, made it really interesting and did everything appropriately for that age group to understand and enjoy. We made puppets with the children, which they really enjoyed and got involved in. I even enjoyed making one myself! I developed my skills in child care and I felt I have learnt more about how to act with someone that age and adapt my language and communication around different age groups. The point of the day was to give the year 5’s an insight into what moving up to comprehensive school would be like; I felt this aim was achieved.

Wednesday

Arkwright Building - City site 

Wednesday was a good day! I attended, again at Clifton campus, ‘Raise the Grade French’ this was with year 10 pupils so they were well behaved and made the day easy for us helpers. I feel this massively achieved its aim and benefited the students brilliantly. I don’t do French myself so I struggled to help them out but watching them learn and develop their skills was really useful for me to see how one day can really boost your learning skills. There was a revision session where the students were given advice on how to revise so although I’m not doing French, I developed skills on revision and learnt new techniques.

Me in the Newton Building

Thursday

Thursday was hectic! It was a year 12 visit consisting of 80 students so as you can imagine the room was jam packed!! I learnt that although year 12 are closest to going to university compared to year 5’s, 9 and 10, they were the least engaged which shocked me quite a bit. I think the aims of the session were met but it was difficult for the presenter to get his point across over all the talking and noise that was going on. This was my least favourite day so far.

Friday

My final day of work experience! I’m going to miss it! I wrote up my blog and spoke to various members of staff about the jobs they do. It was really interesting to learn about all the different jobs the one department do and how they work as a team. I was impressed.

How we raised £500 each for volunteering

Volunteering overseas gives you the opportunity to experience new cultures and meet new people whilst challenging yourself to develop and share your skills. It's your chance to contribute towards the aims and goals of one of NTUs fantastic projects and the communities you will visit. Enhancing your life experience and being part of a shared goal to help develop the global community you are part will make a great addition to your CV!

Students taking part in our International programmes have to raise money to both cover their personal cost associated with the trip, and also meet a minimum fundraising target which goes directly to the charity they are volunteering with.

The Rosie May Home is a purpose built home in Sri Lanka designed to give orphaned or abandoned girls a chance, to empower them through education, and ultimately allowing them to support themselves and their families in the future.

Lauren, one of this year’s volunteers currently in Sri Lanka, talks about her fundraising experience.

After attending the volunteer day, we all got together as a team to begin planning, some events to fundraise for the Rosie May Foundation. I think we were all feeling a bit apprehensive to begin with as raising £500 each sounded like quite a lot of money!

We all agreed that a cake sale would be one of the easiest ways to raise money so this was the first thing we did. After speaking to the student union and the library, we arranged to have two different stalls. We made sure there would two of us on each stall at all times and were each allocated two hour time slots throughout the day. We all planned to bake different things and each made at least 20, so we would have plenty of goodies to sell! We made cakes, cupcakes, brownies, cookies and flapjacks. On the day, we talked to nearly every student and member of staff who walked past, telling them all about the charity and what we would be doing when we went to Sri Lanka. Some people didn't want to buy anything from us, but after hearing about the work of the charity donated anyway, helping us to raise approximately £200!

Students selling cakes in the front of the Student Union. 

The second event we decided to do was a raffle. The first task was to find companies and businesses who were willing to donate prizes to us. I work at Chino Latino so I spoke to my manager and asked whether it would be possible for them to donate anything, and he agreed to give us a £50 voucher to be used in the restaurant. I spent a lot of time emailing different business asking for donations and googling which companies tend to donate to charities and racking my brains for local businesses who might donate! 

There were a lot of “no’s” and many who didn't reply, but we managed to get a £20 voucher for George’s Fish and Chip Kitchen, dinner for two at Handmade Burger and a free blow-dry with eyebrow threading and tinting at J’adore Hair and Beauty. I had recently attended a Mother and Daughter photo-shoot at Firefly Photography Studios and decided there would be no harm in asking for a donation, who offered us a Makeover and Modelling experience. The final two prizes were from family friends who run their own businesses and were able to donate a set of Younique make up worth £55 and a set of 6 custom design mugs. We raised around £250 from the raffle!

Prizes and information for the fundraising raffle.

Our third and final event was the ‘big one.’ We decided to do a sponsored sleep out in the middle of March – were we mad? We decided to set up camp from 7pm til 7am outside the student’s union and prayed it wouldn't rain. We laid out groundsheets and cardboard to sit on and huddled together under sleeping bags to try and keep warm 'it was freezing'. Like the cake sale, we spoke to anyone who passed by and told them all about the charity and what we would be doing. As it was a Saturday night, there were a lot of (drunk) students around who were heading out for the night and were very generous! We raised £450 on the night alongside any sponsors that were put on our Just Giving pages, which was all match funded by Santander!

Students sleeping outside the Student Union.

We want to ensure all students get equal opportunities at NTU. We understand that sometimes the cost of international volunteering can act as a barrier to some students when applying to take part, but we encourage you to apply for these opportunities as there is some financial assistance available for students from low income households.

Ambers Tough Mudder Challenge!

Hi, I’m Amber Member of the Schools Liaison Team at NTU.

Recently, I’ve been getting ready to face a series of adrenaline-pumping challenges and obstacles called Tough Mudder! 

Amongst these are:

·      Lung-busting hills.

·      Woodlands.

·      Water and, tons and tons of mud!

My reasons for taking part:

After taking on the Tough Mudder challenge last year I unfortunately did not manage to complete the course.  I pride myself on the growth mind set of ‘If you fail, get back up and try again’ so I have decided to come back fighting for another year.

My main motivation for the challenge this year has been NTU international volunteering. I am currently volunteering as a team leader for NTU students travelling to Romania to volunteer at a summer school called ‘Little Johns House’ in August. Little Johns House is a Charity set up in Romania to support Romanian Orphans with mental and physical impairments.

 Whilst in Romania we will be engaging the children in lots of fun and exciting activities and enriching experiences involving social interaction, experimental play, music and art therapy. The summer school projects are made possible solely by the help of volunteers and international donations. Therefore, I have been asking for sponsorship to do Tough Mudder as my own personal fundraising for the charity and am not only doing the challenge for myself but also for the children supported by Little John’s House.

Amber will be running the Tough Mudder Saturday the 21^st of May 2016. If you wish to donate her charity page is:  http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/AmberPage1

Volunteering in the local community: Zoe’s story

Meet Zoe, a member of our department who volunteers once a week at her local community centre:

Here's what she had to say about her experiences as a volunteer, and why you should think about getting involved in volunteering in your local area!

When I was younger, I had no idea I was even going to go to university, let alone work at one! But here I am; 8 years after graduating, and still hanging around on campus (although now, I get paid for it!)

I've worked at NTU for 5 years, and I really enjoy it. One of the things I like most about working here is getting to meet and work alongside a variety of people, and one way I get to do this is through the NTU Staff Volunteering scheme.

The scheme is fantastic; it offers staff time off work to engage in a range of volunteering activities. I chose to volunteer in my local community, and help out once a week at a community centre in Netherfield.

The role involves:

·        Preparing food

·        Working on the tills

·        Chatting to a wide range of local residents

·      Helping to plan and run special events, such as themed food nights (e.g. curry nights) and Halloween celebrations.

It’s a fantastic way to help out and meet new people from my local area, as well as build lots of useful skills!

NTU offers lots of volunteering opportunities to our staff and students; but even if you don't study/work here (yet!) i’d recommend looking out for opportunities to get involved in volunteering in your community – it is a brilliant way to make new friends, give something back to the place you call home and build all kinds of transferable skills that will help you when you come to apply for jobs and courses!

Want to know more, you can watch the video about it here:

Paul's Volunteering

Hi I’m Paul and I work here at SCCO. Here’s a little bit about what I do!

When students first arrive at NTU in September they get to take part in a huge programme of fun events which we call Welcome Week. This is a chance for our 7000 new students to meet one another, find their way around and have a great time while settling in to Uni life. There are trips to do fun stuff like karting & ice skating, chances to hang out with other students, nights out, sports, big events, small events, clubs… you name it, we do it! It really is an incredible week and there’s such a buzz about the place!

So, my job is to work with other people in SCCO and right across NTU to make all this happen. It takes months of work to get it all just right but it’s well worth it.

When I’m not doing that I also produce media to support SCCO’s work, like some of the videos and photos that you can see all over this blog.

The thing I really want to tell you about is the volunteering that I do. All NTU staff get the opportunity to volunteer and make a difference through a community project or school in the local area. So for example we have someone who regularly helps out at a community centre in Netherfield, and another who gives her time to help at the Hayward House care unit at City Hospital. There are lots more.

I volunteer at Welbeck Primary School in the Meadows through a scheme called Number Partners. Every Monday, I go there for an hour and take a small group of Year 3 & 4 pupils for some extra Maths support. We have some special board games to help them practice their Maths skills which they get really competitive about! It’s turning Maths into a fun activity: they want to win, and we have a lot of laughs while they’re playing. They love it and they think of it as a treat. I wish there had been someone at my school doing the same! 

Why do I do it? For me, it’s great to help them have fun while learning and improving their confidence with numbers. Over the half a term that I’m with each group, I see the children’s skills and their belief in their own ability grow, which is really satisfying - especially for those who are maybe quieter and lacking in confidence in the regular classroom setting.

There’s a personal reward too in giving something back to the local community. Not everyone has the same start in life, and I like that a little effort from me can make a real difference to others. With the children getting so much out of it too, it’s a winner all round!

Ben's finance teaching volunteering

Name: Ben 

Course studied at NTU: Business Studies 

Year Of Graduation : 2017

Organisation name: NTU

What volunteering were you involved in whilst a student at NTU?  Was it course related or to help with a particular career choice?

I volunteered on Santander’s Financial Literacy Scheme at Meden School from 6^th Feb 2015 to 27^th Feb. The project was related to my course, as I am studying International business and this opportunity allowed me to develop my presentation and team working skills. Along with my ability to efficiently communicate information that can be difficult to understand to a specific audience that may not be able to fully grasp the topics that I was communicating.

Has your volunteering helped your employability since graduating?  If so, in what way?

I was involved in two training sessions and was then tasked with creating a presentation with another student and then delivering this to classes of 15-year-old pupils at Meden School. Volunteering has greatly help develop my employability skills as well as my CV as it has shown that I am proactive and diverse. Volunteering has also made me think about my career direction, this is mainly because of the contacts I have made while volunteering. As I was given a small insight into banking I decided to use the contacts I have made to gain some work experience in the banking world, which has made me direct my career approach to this field.

 What advice would you give students when considering taking part in extra-curricular activities such as volunteering?

 I would absolutely encourage people to take up volunteering, for many of the reasons that I have mentioned above, as well as the sense of achievement you get and the fact that you are helping your community as well as yourself. I would continue to volunteer, as the more experience you have, the more you can stand out.

Nicola's 'Art'astic Time Volunteering

Name: Nicola

Course studied at NTU: Sociology

Year of graduation: 2015

Current Job :  Volunteer counsellor

Organisation name: NSPCC’s Childline

What volunteering were you involved in whilst a student at NTU?  Was it course related or to help with a particular career choice?

“I volunteered for the ARTiculate project whilst studying at NTU. I got involved by volunteering with the programme during my first year and then became project leader for two years. The project runs fun arts and crafts sessions on Saturday’s for children from the charity Spiral, who have experienced a close bereavement or domestic abuse at home.

 As a project leader I was responsible for recruiting eight volunteers each academic year to help prepare and run the sessions. I carried out the communication to the parents/guardians of the children, the charity spiral and the Nottingham Trent volunteering team who fund the project. I also undertook safeguarding and leadership training for the role. The project had a great impact on the charity, reducing the waiting list of children not engaged.

Has your volunteering helped your employability since graduating?  If so, in what way?

I choose to volunteer for the programme because I love working with young people and the project stuck out as something really amazing to get involved with. I found giving a little bit of my time to others also had great benefits to me. I was working alongside so many inspirational people, whom I learnt lots of new skills from, all of which made me realise I wanted a career with a sense of purpose within the charity sector.

Therefore, I am just about to start a graduate level job at a youth charity, where I will be delivering a widening participation programme to disadvantaged children and young people. My volunteering experience was a great boost in my application and interviewers were really impressed to hear about the volunteering I had done.

What advice would you give students when considering taking part in extra-curricular activities such as volunteering?

I wanted to keep on volunteering after university and am very excited to start the training course for a volunteer counsellor role at NSPCC’s Childline service. I would advise everyone to do some volunteering whilst at university you will meet amazing people, learn so much and not regret it giving a little bit of your time!”