Alumni Officer’s Report for 2022

CHARLOTTE MERSON

It has been so lovely to finally get back to in person events and meetings, the new Scholars, Regional and Study Groups have had a bumper year in terms of events and I thoroughly enjoyed the ones I attended.

The year started off with a fantastic open evening on zoom, Jenna Ross was our guest speaker and shared her Nuffield experiences with potential Scholars and then joined the Q&A session. Running an open evening the day applications went live ensured a good number of potentials immediately signing up allowing increased contact, I then went on to run 2 sets of drop in sessions for potential Scholars. The support offered to those applying proved very beneficial, we had a great number of applicants with a member of the selection panel commenting that they are an “excellent bunch of applications in numbers and quality and the consistency of applications I think this year is certainly second to none in my time and I much look forward to the interviews”. At the time of writing interviews are yet to happen but given the quality of the applications I am sure we will have a fantastic year group of Scholars joining us. Detailed feedback is also provided at each stage to those who request it. The 2022 Scholars were treated to an inciteful, thought provoking and intense few days for their Pre CSC in London in March, we were joined by many brilliant speakers with James Thompson of Dyson Farming providing a standout session giving the Scholars an opportunity to see how the business is run. The CSC immediately followed the Pre CSC this year and was hosted on home soil in Norfolk, due to covid two year groups attended; 2021 and 2022. This bumper group allowed for extensive networking and the Scholars worked together in small groups on various tasks, again we were spoilt with the high quality of all speakers, I would like to extend my thanks to all involved with the CSC.

Due to delays caused by Covid we will have four year groups of current Scholars to look after, not only does this mean an exceptionally busy couple of years for the office but it also means a very busy time for our mentors. Because of this we are set to welcome a new group of mentors, they are going to receive their training at the conference in November and will be allocated 2023 Scholars. Mentoring is incredibly popular with the Scholars with all of the 2022 Scholars requesting a mentor and nearly all of the 2021 Scholars. All of our mentors are volunteers, both the Scholars and the office are very grateful for the time they give and I look forward to catching up with and meeting our new mentors shortly. The Regional and Study groups have also had a busy year, I would like to use this opportunity to thank the Group Chairs for all of the hard work they do supporting applicants, running mock interviews and all of the events they run. The feedback I received from the events was excellent, from the Alumni and potential Scholars and as always the quality of guest speakers and farms to visit was exceptional. Looking forward to 2023 I will be running the open evening in January and am currently in the process of organising an action packed Pre CSC for our new 2023 Scholars before they fly to Canada for their CSC and as always I will be working closely with the Regional and Study groups to assist with events and anything else they require. A particular focus will be on Health and Safety at our events in 2023 and I will appreciate help and support with this.