Portfolio

Cultural & Social Awareness – Committee for the University’s Musical Theatre Group (MTG) Section A – Description I was a member of the committee for the University’s Musical Theatre Group (MTG) for two years. In my second year of being a student at the University, I took the role of fundraiser. This meant that I had to raise money for the society by organising and carrying out fund raising activities. This included getting people to join the society, carol singing events, parties which included buying merchandise with the profits going to MTG. In my fourth year of being student, I took the role of vice-chairperson. My roles involved overseeing everything to do with the society. This included seconding all decisions relating the society’s activities, writing the minutes for the committee meetings or leading these if the chairman could not be there and attending all aspects such as fundraisers and rehearsals that related to the society.

Section B – Analysis Being part of the committee has enabled me to become an integral part of the team. Even though everybody within the committee had their individual responsibilities, we all had to work together to keep the society running smoothly and organise activities as well as rehearsals for a show. For MTG to be able to put on show, committee members had to organising booking rehearsal space, lighting, sound and set, which were from outside organisations such as the Theatre Royal, and organising advertisement of the show. This year was especially difficult as the director quit which meant as a committee we had to decide who was best to fill the role. Without all the committee’s input, the show would not have been such a success this year.

Being the vice-chairperson it has allowed me to enhance my leadership skills.

I had to constantly be organised. Making sure that all the committee members knew what jobs they had to do. This was a role within writing the minutes from the meetings. I also had to lead committee meetings as the chairman was off sick for two months, which included making sure all agenda points were discussed and that everyone agreed with all decisions. This meant I had to be confident, have good time keeping and make sure all committee members had an equal input. I also had to develop my intellectual skills as I constantly had to make executive decisions; and my social skills as I constantly had to address all members of the society.

I am hoping that these skills will help me further in prospective jobs, as it means that I have experience in team working and team leadership, so I feel like I would be suited for some form of supervisory or managerial role.

Section C – Attitudes and Values Being the vice-chairperson of MTG has significantly increased my confidence as I constantly have to address new people and talk in front of all the members. It has also increased my confidence in my own abilities as I have managed to improve my organisational and time management skills and I know how well I can cope under pressure.

During my second year, unfortunately due to lack of funds because of the show the year before costing too much, we could not afford to do a show. Therefore as a committee we had to keep members involved and interested in keeping with MTG. As a fundraiser it was vital for me to raise enough money for there to be a show the following year. We still wanted to do a performance so as a group, not just committee we wrote our own show with well known songs which lasted for 15 minutes. This was performed at the Volunteer Festival in town and taken to surrounding schools which we then completed a workshop with them. This gave the children the opportunity to learn a section of our show then perform it to their class.

This was such a fantastic experience for me to help the children become more confident and to be proud of what they had achieved as it can be daunting to perform.

Also charity work was very important especially in my second year and fundraisers such as abseiling were great experiences. This involved abseiling down the National Marine Aquarium in Plymouth with half the proceeds made from the MTG members going to MTG and the other half going to Precious Lives Appeal, who from then on became MTG’s charity focus. The charity work progressed through the years which included at least 30 members being tied together by their wrists to raise money for charity, or karaoke nights, games nights and all other types of activities to raise awareness for the Precious Lives Appeal and other charities such as comic relief and children in need. This has helped me to be more confident in working with different age groups and I have had a fantastic opportunity as to which I’m proud to say I have helped others.

Section D – Enjoyment, inspiration, creativity I have really enjoyed being able to have an input into a society that I have been part of for 4 years and I feel like I have been able to make improvements on how the society is run and open up new opportunities. It has opened up my mind to more ways in which an organisation like this can get involved with other opportunities. In April 2011 I received the Half Colours at the Societies Awards evening for my contribution to MTG. This reward is given to those who have contributed an outstanding performance to their society in raising funds and keeping the society a success and completing duties that are above and beyond the call of duty to the society. This has been such an honour that my hard work has been recognised, but I have enjoyed every minute of it and will continue to help the new committee next year if they need it.

Section E – Action, behaviours, progression into the future Being part of the committee has enabled me to become a more patient and understanding person. Before being on the committee it is difficult to appreciate how much hard work goes into running a musical theatre group. In my first year I thought the committee were all about the social aspects and it was the director who organised everything else. This is definitely not the case as the committee have such a more important role. Being vice-chairperson makes you realise that things take a lot of work to make them happen and will happen if you all work together. I would definitely encourage others to get involved with the society or other societies of interest as it has a lot of opportunities to meet others, develop skills all whilst being enjoyable. Also, you get to make very good friends as these are the people who you become close to as you spend so much time with them either on committee or because of rehearsals.

Supporting the University Community – Student Associate Scheme (SAS) Section A – Description In 2009, I took part in the University’s Student Associate Scheme (SAS). This included taking part in 2 months of evening training sessions where I learnt about various aspects of schooling such as the national curriculum and working with children with learning difficulties. I then spent 2 weeks in a high school, and a further 1 week in a primary school as a student associate helping teachers, taking sessions and giving talks about higher education.

Section B – Analysis The scheme was a big learning curve for me in several aspects. I have been able to develop my communication skills through talking and interacting with the students. I was able to connect with the students in away that the regular members of staff may not have been able to; they saw me as someone more at their level, whilst maintaining the professionalism of a member of staff.

This interaction with students also allowed me to develop my ability to deal with emotional issues and thought processes. Students would often talk to me about how they felt about school issues. In addition, being back in the school environment and getting involved with classes allowed me to further improve my key skills.

I have taken a lot of the new skills from doing the scheme. In particular learning how to deal with and work with children, and seeing school from the perspective of a member of staff rather than a student myself. I feel that I can apply

what I have learnt into my chosen career in psychology, in particular when I may come into contact with younger clients.

Section C – Attitudes and Values The scheme has allowed me to see the work that goes on in a school and the challenges that staff who work with children face. I have had the opportunity to work with a wide variety of age ranges, abilities and social backgrounds. As a result I have developed a great respect for the staff who have to remain professional, deliver content, remain flexible and also provide council for every student. However, I have also gained a new perspective of school life for the children. It is a very rewarding feeling knowing that you can have a positive impact on the lives of the students. I feel as though I was able to achieve my aim of raising awareness in the students, with regards to progressing to higher education, having had some more productive conversations about my experiences with university.

Section D – Enjoyment, inspiration, creativity I really enjoyed doing the scheme as it has been a great opportunity to experience what it would be like working as a teacher, but this has made me realise how challenging it can be working among the age groups. It was fantastic to be creative and know that you’re helping someone with their future. Whether they were interested in the same aspects as me or not, I could come to their level and discuss things more personally than most of the teachers because the age gap was not as great.

Section E – Action, behaviours, progression into the future Doing this scheme has made me consider teaching, but I do not think this is for me for many different reasons, but this scheme gave me that opportunity to try it.

More than anything, with the high school students I wanted them to understand how university worked and how much more of an open mind some of them have because I went to a deprived area and many thought they would never be able to go. I expressed how I did not think I would be able to go but university has given me such a confidence boost and could not have enjoyed it more. Explaining the clubs and societies got a lot of them to understand how there are fun and games and not all work, even though it counts for a massive part of it, but its more open than school.

This is something I would like to combine with the musical theatre group and show students how university and the job prospects after university are so great.

Working Life – Recreation Supervisor Section A – Description Being a recreation supervisor includes many different roles such as; administrative responsibilities, cleaning duties, customer service and inductions to the fitness suite.

Section B – Analysis I have to perform a lot of gym inductions, which include showing members how to use the gym equipment safely and to its best use, I have to make judgments on whether certain people can cope with the different exercises and certain weights.

As I got to understand the gym equipment over time and see how other staff members explain the equipment I was able to be more confident and understand the purpose of some machines which I did not know before.

As it is a recreation service, there are links to Mount Batten which the gym share information. Information such as who is booked onto a sailing course, whether they are qualified at all and these needs to be faxed or emailed on time. Therefore the appropriate information needs to be taken from the person involved and certain steps need to be taken, for example if they are asthmatic, the water sports coordinator needs to know this incase a situation arises.

As mentioned this is a recreation service in which many students and public people use. Also a lot of communication is needed between other services.

Therefore good social skills are very important. There are 15 members of staff that work in the surrounding area, including managers, casual staff and administrative staff. As there are so little staff it is important everyone have a good bond and are able to talk about things to each other. You get to meet new people every day and then you get to see the regular customers come to use the gym which gives you the opportunity to get to know them better.

In order to work in a gym and recreation service, many people ask for your opinion of the different services we offer. Therefore it is good to have tried things so you can offer a person opinion, for example a type of exercise class you can explain everything that was required from you.

If I were to critically evaluate myself I have worked hard, but I could have taken the opportunity to get to know more of the members. This could have been by walking around the gym and seeing how people are getting on and if they would like any advice, but in order for me to offer advice I would need to gain a higher gym qualification which is something I would like to complete later on in my career. I am

looking for a career in psychology and linking those skills with fitness knowledge could be beneficial as I could explain the benefits of exercise in relation to psychology. However, this would need to be explored further.

This has been a great opportunity to prepare me for jobs in which I would need to research and use information and explain it to others. Also, general admin skills have developed over time and I have been part of a team which have helped me to become more outspoken and get my ideas across which have been listened to and valued.

Section C – Attitudes and Values Working in this type of environment has made my self-esteem grow because my knowledge of the body and exercise has increased greatly. I have the chance to meet new people every day and my confidence in talking to new people has increased. Having a recreational facility on the University campus that has very good and competitive prices is a great way to get students involved in things they may not have tried before. The recreational service offers activities from water sports to intramural basketball; therefore people don’t need to know others to join in as a team are formed from strangers.

Section D – Enjoyment, inspiration, creativity I have found this a really enjoyable experience as I have found myself having some great informal chats to members of the public and lecturers from the university.

Being able to share my experiences with others whilst finding out so much about other people has been very interesting. It has definitely inspired me to get involved with something like this after I leave University as it really does make a difference to peoples health and social life, even if it is a basketball game once a week.

Section E – Action, behaviours, progression into the future I would definitely encourage people to take part in this type of job as it is such a great way to learn about health and fitness and meet new people. It has been great to be able to do something that I have never done before and I would definitely like to stay involved after University.