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..jpg)
