Alvina Morey is Enterprise Co-ordinator at Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority. We are excited to share her experience as one of our regular volunteers and why she is so keen to inspire the next generation at our careers awareness and employability skills events:
I love working with young people and feeling like you’ve done something good. You can also always learn something new from them!
Form the Future has an excellent reputation and is a very professional organisation. When I’ve volunteered at their events, there are never any surprises – we’re briefed very well and in advance. Good communication is really important.
One of their strengths is that they seek feedback and improvement from us volunteers, to improve events and the volunteer experience, as well as what impact they can have on students.
I really like helping at a mix of events and being able to share my experience and teach the students transferable skills. I also like to explain how what they are learning at school will apply to a workplace and that there’s no need for a clear career path.
Their events are very inclusive – it gets the less confident or less academic students to participate, work in a team and knocks down perceived barriers. Those that seem unengaged can become the most enthusiastic team leaders by the end of the day. I really enjoy helping them find their motivation and interest and running with it. It also gives an opportunity for a less structured ‘lesson’ and lets them get hands-on, creative and use their imagination.
I was able to see this on a slightly longer timescale when I was delighted to be able to support, as a mentor, several groups of young students at Bottisham Village College taking part in Form the Future’s NatWest Enterprise Programme. The students had already won at their initial Enterprise Day, and our subsequent mentoring sessions were to develop and take their idea a step further.