Helping you get to where you want to be when you graduate
City Challenges are a programme of events providing students with the opportunity to engage with charities and social enterprises and support worthwhile organisations, whilst developing skills to improve employability.
By taking part in a City Challenge students gain experience in group working, problem solving, public speaking and presentation, innovative thinking, and community engagement.
As well as helping others, volunteering is a brilliant way to meet new people, boost your CV, and support great causes. It can help you discover your values and what matters to you, which is a great way to kickstart your career thinking and shape your career goals.
It’s also a great way to build key skills for the workplace, so of course – volunteering can be used towards achieving your Bristol PLUS Award. To inspire you, we’ve asked PLUS Award achievers to share their volunteering stories.
City Challenges are a programme of events providing students with the opportunity to engage with charities and social enterprises and support worthwhile organisations, whilst developing skills to improve employability.
By taking part in a City Challenge students gain experience in group working, problem solving, public speaking and presentation, innovative thinking, and community engagement.
Hi, I’m Olivia, and I volunteered with Bristol Women’s Voice on International Women’s Day for their event at City Hall.
This experience allowed me to engage with like-minded women in my local community and contribute to a cause close to my heart; tackling gender-based inequality and violence.
I volunteered with Bristol Women’s Voice because I wanted to do something to celebrate International Women’s Day 2025.
I also wanted to meaningfully contribute to the amazing work that local women are doing to unite women in Bristol by celebrating their achievements and offering support and information for those who need it
Bristol Women’s Voice was set up in 2013 to ‘listen and make heard the views and voices of women from across Bristol’s diverse communities, empowering them to influence decision-makers’.
It was the responsibility of the volunteers to make sure that the event ran smoothly. Upon my arrival at City Hall I became a room steward, helping Bristol girls network set up their first mates event, which is like speed dating but for making new friends!
Next the room was needed for a body confidence dance class and so we had to prepare the room for that. At the same time it was our job to answer questions from members of the public and to make sure that everyone was safe and having a good time.
I also played to my unique strengths and offered to be a media volunteer. For this role I attended one of the panel events being hosted on the day.
I listened to a group of incredible female journalists and creatives, local to the area, talk about the challenges of being a woman in the media industry. They also offered advice for those aspiring to a creative career.
Afterwards, I wrote a blog summarising the panel for the Bristol Women’s Voice webpage.
I signed up to become a volunteer on the SU’s Volunteering Hub which I heard about during Student Volunteering Week. The process was really simple and I only had to attend one online training session before the day. In total, I only had to give up about 7 hours of my time, which was easy to manage alongside my final year studies.
Now that I have volunteered, I feel like I have closer connections with my local community and feel encouraged to volunteer with Bristol Women’s Voice again.
I used MySkills to reflect on the experience and consider how the day might help me with my future career aspirations.
If you are considering signing up for a volunteering role, check out the SU Volunteering Hub for some incredible opportunities.
Another way to give back, that only takes a few hours, is the City Challenge Programme which allows you to support a local charity or social enterprise.
Overall, my experience as a volunteer for Bristol Women’s Voice was an extremely positive one, even though it was only over the course of a day. I hope this encourages you to think about the positive change you can make by giving up even a few hours of your time.
It was our final City Challenge event of the year at the Careers Service recently. We had the wonderful Brave Bold Drama join us with their challenge.
City Challenges are a programme of events providing students with the opportunity to engage with charities and social enterprises.
(more…)City Challenges are a programme of events providing students with the opportunity to engage with charities and social enterprises and support worthwhile organisations, whilst developing skills to improve employability. By taking part in a City Challenge, students gain experience in group working, problem solving, public speaking and presentation, innovative thinking, and community engagement.
Hi, I’m Emily, Volunteer Coordinator at Bristol SU.
Over the past year, the Bristol SU Volunteering Team have been running ‘One-Off Opportunities’.
These are group volunteering opportunities with various organisations across Bristol, that students can take part in on a flexible and ad-hock basis. I love joining in with these sessions, to chat to the fantastic student volunteers and learn why they’ve been some of our most popular opportunities.
During Student Volunteering Week (Monday 10 to Saturday 15 February), we’ll be providing a range of events, talks and workshops to help you find your perfect volunteering role. This includes a number of One-Off Opportunities.
Be the first to hear about our events by joining our One-Off Opportunities WhatsApp Chat, and sign up to all events on the Student Volunteering Week campaign page.
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The Winter vacation, and the addition of Preparation Week this year between Monday 6 and Friday 10 January, present a valuable opportunity to invest in your future career before your studies restart.
Preparation Week is your chance, reflect on your skills, come to an event, or start making future career plans.
To kick things off, why not sign up for one our intro talks:
Make the most of the careers service during our opening hours which change slightly as we approach the Winter break. Live Chat and opening times for walks-ins are:
Read on for our top tips on how to maximise your time during the break and preparation week.
(more…)Students can support worthwhile organisations whilst developing skills to improve employability. By taking part in a City Challenge, students gain experience in group working, problem solving, public speaking and presentation, innovative thinking, and community engagement.
The MoSAIC (The Museum of Science, the Arts & Interdisciplinary Collaboration)
is a Bristol based business taking STEAM learning to the next level and reducing the disadvantage gap using cross-curricular education. They show young people and educators how creative the STEM subjects really are through online and downloadable teaching resources and accessibly priced in-person creative school workshops aimed at secondary school aged students. The MoSAIC came and hosted a session with us at the Careers Service on Tyndall Avenue. Students worked together and came up with ideas to support the marketing of services and diversification of revenue streams.
