Category: Student stories

Getting to know the Outstanding PLUS Awards: Everyday Hero & Innovation

Posted on by Careers Service

,The Bristol PLUS Award gives you the chance to get rewarded for your extra-curricular activities and learn to articulate your skills to employers. Last year, we also launched the Outstanding PLUS Awards (OPA), to recognise PLUS achievers who went above and beyond in one of 8 categories.

In this post, we’re taking a closer look at the Everyday Hero and Innovation categories.

Everyday Hero

This category is all about showing evidence of you being reliable and consistent in your work and inspiring others with your energy and enthusiasm.

Photo of Elizabeth playing netball, jumping to shoot the ball
Elizabeth McGechie, Year 3 Applied Anatomy BSc, Netball Coach

The qualities of an outstanding Everyday Hero can come across in any PLUS Award activity. Here’s what some of last year’s nominees did:

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My SME Internship: Katie – Treepoints

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My name is Katie, and I am a 2nd year student studying BA French and Spanish. A photo of Katie smiling.

I completed my SME Internship this June at Treepoints, an online platform start-up which provides support for businesses to take climate action and reduce their carbon emissions.  

The internship took place in London, where I covered a variety of tasks over the month including market research, internal auditing, competitor research, developing selection criteria for new partners and bringing on board a new plastic collection partner.  (more…)

Getting to know the Outstanding PLUS Awards: Change Maker & Better World 

Posted on by Careers Service

The Bristol PLUS Award rewards students for taking part in extra-curricular activities during their studies. In 2021/22 academic year, we launched the Outstanding PLUS Awards (OPA), which allows PLUS Award achievers to nominate themselves for going above and beyond during their PLUS activity.  

In a past blog post, we looked at the Diverse Partnerships and Civic Superstar categories. Today we are introducing you to the Change Maker and Better World categories, and the diverse range of activities that could count towards both categories.  

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Indea: My BristolGrad Internship experience

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My internship with the Careers Service as the BristolGrad Careers Support Intern was a great opportunity to gain loads of skills with a super-supportive team behind me.

Picture of Indea. A young woman smiling as she stroked a large ginger cat
Indea and a furry friend

Let me set the scene: I was a wide-eyed Arts graduate, leaving university to enter the world of work in 2020 – in the middle of a pandemic. After months of rejections (or just being ghosted by employers), and a job I didn’t love, I spotted the chance to apply for the BristolGrad internship.

My role consisted of supporting the delivery of the BristolGrad project. You can find out more about how the Careers Service supports graduates on our website. Because we were focusing on supporting a varied cohort, my role was also varied. (more…)

Violet: Student Leader, drag artist, and PLUS achiever!

Posted on by Careers Service

Bristol PLUS Award achiever and Outstanding PLUS Award nominee Violet Allmark achieved her 70 hours of PLUS activity through working as a freelance drag performer and taking on a student leadership role as chair of Bristol Theatre Department Society InterACT. 

Violet was a freelance performer with drag cabaret ‘The House of Savalon’ during their residency at award-winning Bristol LGBTQ+ venue Queenshilling, proud sponsors of Bristol University LGBTQ+ society. 

A photo of Violet performing in a drag show
Violet performing as Etta Boy, at The House of Savalon

‘My freelance work, as part of the House of Savalon’s three month residency at Queenshilling, gave me the opportunity to develop my artistic costume-making practice, and improve my time management and organisational skills. I spent hours preparing for my acts: sourcing, making and editing my own costumes, props and audio. 

In addition, the regular feedback sessions enhanced my personal reflection skills on my own performances as well as my communication skills through constructive feedback

A crow of people in drag on a stage cheering
The House of Savalon at the Queen Shilling

Kickstarting my drag career this year has led to such amazing performance opportunities, such as performing last week before Divina de Campo at the Creative Youth Network Station and even internationally in Woody’s Bar Toronto, where I was tipped during my performance by a queen recently announced to be on Season 3 of Canada Drag Race and I was even in the presence of the show’s ‘version’ of Ru Paul: Brook Lynn Hytes.’

Violet also developed new skills and experience by chairing the committee of InterAct, the theatre department’s society. 

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My SME Internship: Tom, Educational Action Challenging Homophobia (EACH)

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Educational Action Challenging Homophobia (EACH) is a multi-award-winning charity which works to affirm the lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people and reduce discrimination experienced because of sexual orientation or gender identity.  

EACH work with us through our SME Internship Scheme to host interns to support their charity work, in roles such as Administration & Fundraising Officer, Helpline & Creative Development Assistant, and Research & Administration Officer.   

Since 2013, EACH has hosted 14 SME interns through the SME Internship Scheme.   

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Getting to know the Outstanding PLUS Awards: Diverse Partnerships & Civic Superstar

Posted on by Careers Service

Bristol PLUS Award students undertake a huge range of activities, and develop an abundance of skills and experiences. The Outstanding PLUS Awards launched in 2021-22 to further celebrate students for making outstanding personal contributions, whatever their chosen activity. 

In this blog, we’re looking at two of the Award categories, and some examples of nominees from our very first Outstanding PLUS Awards cohort.  

If you’re interested in finding out more about what our Outstanding PLUS Awards students got up to, check out the other related posts on our blog and you can find more information on our webpage.

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My IKEEP Journey: Project Placement with PyTerra

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Hi, I’m Emily! I am a third-year law student and I recently completed a project placement with PyTerra, after following a two-week Intrapreneurial course with IKEEP. I heard about the IKEEP training programme in the Careers Service newsletter, and it seemed like a great way to get interesting work experience. I got offered a 4-week work placement at PyTerra, which is a local ‘FinTech’ (Financial Technology) start-up and app where investors, developers, grant givers and corporates can collaborate to make low carbon housing projects feasible. Essentially, PyTerra’s mission is to generate finance for aggregated low-carbon projects.   (more…)

My SME Internship: Regina – WeTrack

Posted on by Careers Service

A photo of Regina, smiling.I am very grateful to have been offered an internship opportunity through the SME Internship Scheme.

As an international student, I spent three months searching for a graduate job in the UK after I finished my one-year master’s programme. I found the challenges and competition higher than ever in the wake of the global pandemic. Thus, I applied for internship vacancies on the Careers Service website to enhance my employability in the local market. (more…)

Meet Oscar, the PLUS achiever who helped fundraise £60,000 for charity!

Posted on by Careers Service

The Bristol PLUS Award rewards students for taking part in extra-curricular activity alongside their studies. Every year, we are impressed by the variety of activities students use towards their PLUS, and the impact these activities have – both towards the local community, and towards the students’ personal and professional development.   

Spotlight on Oscar: director, president, PLUS Achiever… and multitasking extraordinaire!  

A picture of Oscar during the Charity Dance Production. He is standing on stage with a money shooting out of a prop gun.
Photo credit: Peter Wormington (Moonshine Photography)

To achieve his 70 hours, Oscar Oglina, a fifth-year medical student, was director of the Medical Student Charity Dance Production, CLIC, which broke fundraising records by raising over £60,000 for charity.  (more…)