Growing up!

I have so much to say, I hope I haven't left it too long and forgotten everything!

Some time earlier in the year, I decided to jump out of my comfort zone and apply for a position as a Student Mentor at UWN. I didn't really know what it meant... probably giving people a hand if they were lost or maybe letting students know what services were available to them at the uni; but hey, it provided an income, as such, and I could work it around my degree.

I was wrong, it's much more than that. I've already written about my first few experiences, about not knowing anyone, feeling nervous and old, but there's something else... I've become Claire again. I lost my way quite a long time ago, I was a Mum, a girlfriend, a wife, a lover, a friend, an employee, a daughter, a sister, a niece, a grand daughter, an aunt and on and on... but I was never just Claire. This past year, and more importantly these past few weeks have made me Claire again.

I have been dragged out from behind my protective wall, I have confidently spoken in front of a room full of people, I have gone up to practical strangers and spoken honestly about my first impressions of them and told them how I see them and they have reciprocated. I have acted on impulse and reacted decisively and positively instead of "hmm, can I get back to you?". I have made a fool of myself and sung drunkenly on karaoke (any of my close friends will know I usually loath karaoke!), and I loved it, I have loved every second of the last year of my life... but the past three weeks have been the best!

I know that even when something comes along and blows the wind out of my sail and makes me feel like an insecure 15 year old again, I have the strength and maturity to say to myself "for goodness sake woman, get a grip of yourself, is it THAT important?" I've finally grown up! I can speak about matters that are deep in my soul, that are painful to bring to the front of my consciousness, to even pitch a project idea about them, I can do this and not cry... I wanted to, but I didn't :)

Being there for new (and returning) students at UWN, trying to make them feel secure and safe in an unfamiliar environment was challenging; it really tested my patience at times, but sometimes it made me want to hug and kiss the nearest person to me. Overall, everything that I have witnessed, been involved in and experienced, whether it was talking to a new and insecure student for an hour on the phone or just pointing someone in the right direction has given me the greatest sense of achievement; I have met the most amazing, inspiring and charismatic individuals and many, many of them will be indelibly imprinted on my heart forever.

I know who I am now, I have grown, matured and gained a great sense of confidence and achievement. I like me, finally, at the age of 37, I'm proud of who I am... I can't wait for the future :)

Procrastination Update!

I have lots to update... Training, telephoning new intake students etc, but I am about to embark upon a week of solid Student Mentor training prior to induction/enrolment and freshers weeks. It's going to be a hectic time... Oh yeah my son starts comprehensive school and I will be starting my degree in amongst all of this! Hey ho at least life isn't boring eh? ;)
Catch you later :))

Free food, gambling and The Apprentice!?

I’ve left this one faaaaaaaar too long, is procrastination one of the seven deadly sins?? Now I need to remember back to the 5th of July… this may take a while… … …. … … … … … … … … ok, here goes…
It appeared that some of the Student Mentors had been permitted to gate crash the ‘Student Services Away Day’, what this entails I had absolutely no idea, so yet again walking in to a room of people I didn’t know or recognise (except Beth a fellow ‘newbie’ and Gill the nice lady on reception in Student Services). I park myself next to the nearest person with Student Mentor emblazoned across their back; at least we will definitely have one thing in common. 
The ‘stranger’ turned out to be Aled who, apart from being a Student Mentor, is a history student. Great two things in common, so I quickly get down to asking him about life as a Mentor and as a history student (basically what are the tutors like?). During our chat the room slowly starts to fill up and I spy Kerry walk in, I make a mental note to catch her eye and have a quick catch up when appropriate.
After everyone had arrived and helped themselves to tea and coffee and the initial IT issues had been resolved, we all introduce ourselves… don’t ask me to remember any names!... my turn, big smile “Hi my name is Claire and I’m a brand new Student Mentor!” which was met with a ripple of applause and cheers, cue even bigger smile :)
Following introductions we were given a presentation regarding an impending update and new look mLE pages. This was followed by a discussion regarding a new student services video. The room was split into groups to discuss what the best ways to portray the services provided were. 
Prior to lunch we were given a talk by a local counsellor who had recently graduated from UWN. The talk was regarding gambling addiction and how it affects people’s lives. A pilot is being run in the South Wales area along with the Midlands and Scotland which is supported by the Citizens Advice Bureau, Addiction Recovery Agency and the Responsible Gambling Trust. Some of us were surprised to learn how frequently gambling adversely affects student life. This provided useful information for my life as a Student Mentor giving me an insight into an area of life that I hadn’t previously considered may crop up in my interaction with fellow students.
Lunch arrived… hang on I don’t remember this from my Student Mentor induction day all we had was a snack voucher?! What do Student Services have that we don’t? Two lovely ladies from the canteen arrived with a cornucopia of goodies. All attendees promptly turned into a Meerkats, back straight, eyes bright, nose in the air and heads swivelling side to side, the most attentive we had been all morning. Who’s going to get into the queue first? OMG look at all those strawberries! Hmmmm glad I volunteered to come today.
During lunch the Student Mentors were pulled out of the room (ooh err what have we done??) and told about the task that we would be undertaking in the afternoon… The Apprentice Team Challenge. We were asked if we wanted to be participants or observers; I volunteered to be an ‘observer’. I was given my checklist and instructed on what would be required of me during the afternoon shenanigans. Following lunch and the reassembly of all attendees the Apprentice Team Challenge was revealed to all; each team had 60 minutes, they needed to use a camera and take a maximum of 7 photos, not just any photos, they had to consist of the following:
• 2 females with red hair
• A sandwich
• A live animal
• 4 different colours of nail varnish
• Somebody playing a musical instrument
• A wild flower
• A ladies bicycle
Observers were there to ensure the ‘rules of engagement’ were adhered to, be time keeper and observe and take note of the teamwork they were observing. Each team was allocated an observer, instructed to appoint a team leader and name their team. This was done and the individual teams were let loose around Caerleon campus to complete their task. There then ensued a lot of Annika Rice Treasure Hunt style running around and thinking on your feet, harassing staff in HR and the shop, dubiously obtaining entry to offices and attracting a lot of odd looks. Our team The Bolton Wanderers consisted of Simon, Beth, Lisa, Gill, Becky and me Clairey as the observer. We completed the task in 26 minutes and had an absolute blast doing it…. Can’t wait for the next team building exercise.

Email, Twitter, Blogger, Facebook... and Birth Certificates!

After promising each other that we would get in touch in two weeks time, Colby and I managed to find each other on Twitter within days. I also managed to find Paul our head of 'Digitally Enhanced Learning', Kerry our Mentor Manager and also the Student Mentor's page, additionally a group of us 'Newbies' were contacted by Vikki to welcome us to the life of a Student Mentor.... Not bad I think for the first week.


There then ensued a  'flurry' of messages. Messages of support, messages of advice and messages just for fun. I really love the way in which I am being made to feel welcome and part of the team. I can honestly say I have never experienced such genuine encouragement and enthusiasm to help others get along. This is pretty cool.


Amongst the daily updates and messages I spy one email Student Mentor - Paperwork for HR' with a little ! by the side of it... Uh oh! I open and read...


'Hi Claire I have been advised by Human Resources that they still require your A&I paperwork and a copy of your NI number evidence. Without this paperwork you are not currently eligible to accept any work within the scheme or be added to the staff payroll system (this is a legal requirement).' ...


Eh?


I provided everything requested when I came for the interview and the nice lady on Student Services reception took copies... I don't understand. Email tennis between Kerry and I resulted in us discovering that a copy of my Birth Certificate hadn't been taken and me driving the twenty something miles in the miserable rain (I thought this was the Summer Solstice!) to Caerleon campus for HR to take a copy of my Birth Certificate, at least hubby came along to keep me company :)


After standing around for a few minutes the woman on reception in HR returned and handed me back my Birth Certificate and a thought dawned on me... "Are you aware this is my maiden name?"
"Oh... did you change your name by Deed Poll?"
"Uh... no... I got married, do you want my student number to check my record?" 
"Umm... hang on I'll be back now" she disappears into another room. Hubby and I just look at each other and shrug our shoulders. A few minutes later she returns... here it comes... wait for it... 
"We need a copy of your Marriage Certificate" 
Ah pants!
Ha ha, but wait... not relishing the return journey home to Monmouth to retrieve said certificate (anyway Hubby and I needed to get to Ebbw Vale college to see our sons film installation), I remembered I had provided my Marriage Certificate when I applied for the Access course last year "There should be a copy on my records, here is my student number... you can check it out"
"Uh, OK then, if we need anything, I'll be in touch" 
And with that, Hubby and I were off to Ebbw Vale to have our proud parent moment :)


I still can't wait to get stuck in to do some actual training and work!


By the way Happy Anniversary darling x

Induction Day

Awake before the alarm!! I hope Dylan is feeling better, I can't stay home today!! OK, no more temperature, Dylan is fine so it's off to school with him and I can start to think about how I feel this morning. Forget that, I don't have time to think about how I feel, I just need to concentrate on getting to the induction for my new role as Student Mentor at University of Wales Newport.

I'm used to going in to new situations and meeting new people on my own, but that doesn't stop the apprehension. I bet everyone will know each other, and I will be the one on my own desperately trying to find a common ground with someone, trying (and failing) to remember names!! What will the rest of the new Mentors be like? Will there be more women than men or a good mix of both sexes? Will I be the oldest there, will they be just like me? Why do I always feel like everyone will know much more than I? Why do I feel like I'm just winging it and I don't really deserve to be here... I mean... ME! After my garbled jibber jabber in the interview, they picked ME... what the heck like! I still think of myself as an immature-17-year-old-that-knows-absolutely-jack-s***-about-anything-trapped-in-a-37-year-old-body! At least I know where the room is so that's a bonus I suppose.

Yep I was right, didn't know a soul, tell a lie, I had met Kerry and Sarah... at the interview! The room is full of chatter, nervous chatter, friendly chatter and getting to know each other chatter. Maybe I'm not on my own after all.

We introduce ourselves after randomly catching a ball "Hi my name is Claire, I've just finished the Access course and I'm going on to study History. One exciting fact about me is that I ran the Cardiff Half Marathon in 2010 to raise money for a domestic abuse charity" affectionate and approving murmurings of "Aah" from a few of my new colleagues surprise me and produce an involuntary beaming smile across my face... OK, I'm feeling pretty good about this. I am surrounded by art, photography, drama, religion, integrity, honesty, nervousness, and many more greatly varying students, wow, what a diverse bunch of pretty cool people.


We move on to various activities with ever changing groups of people; what do we want to know by the end of the day, what do we think being a Mentor is all about, what are the 'should and should not' of being a Mentor and provide definitions of various identified 'buzz words'. 
I now realise, after chatting to so many different people that we're all in the same boat, we all want to know the answer to the same questions, but most importantly, we're all really excited about our future as a mentor and what we can give back to the university and students around us by means of support. We all care.


Off to lunch, we all (my new colleagues and I) sit together in the canteen, chatting about what we have learnt about being a Mentor, what we are studying, where we come from, local tourist attractions, great tutors, languages we do or do not speak, religion, age... and on and on... I feel really happy.


The afternoon consisted of moving to a computer suite and learning how not to mess up on Facebook and discovering that we were to set up our own personal blog!! So here it is, my first attempt (how long are blog entries supposed to be?). I left that computer suite feeling energized, confident and with an inner sense of calm. I realised that as soon as I had opened my letter two weeks earlier, offering me the position of Student Mentor, I was not alone. I was not alone in my feelings of apprehension, I was not alone in my many questions buzzing around in my head, I was not alone in my feelings of excitement, I was not alone in my sense of wanting to help others, I was not alone. I am part of a team, a support network whose aim it is to help those who seek it. But not just to help others, Student Mentors are there to help me as well :)


Post script: Dylan was on the sofa wrapped up in his Marvel Comics duvet when I got home, he had been sent home poorly at lunch time! Hubby knew how important my day was and dealt with it all. Today I feel very fortunate.

First Post

This is my first ever blog post as a Student Mentor!

Define Surprise

Define Support