Outreach event celebrates staff and student volunteers

School children in the Wohl Reach Out Lab

Last week, a celebration event marked the contributions of staff and student volunteers to the College's outreach activities across the year.

The volunteers had offered their time and expertise to support a range of initiatives aimed at raising aspirations among young people, from hands-on events at the College to mentoring programmes. The event on Wednesday 17 June, held in the College Main Entrance, was organised by the Outreach team, who lead widening participation activities at the College.

Dr Claire Sweetenham

One such initiative is the Pathways to Medicine programme, funded by the Sutton Trust. This is a long-term programme focused on engaging with students from Year 11 until Year 13, supporting them in making applications to medical schools. It is coordinated by Dr Claire Sweetenham from the Outreach team. She said: “One of the great things about the programme has been the collaborations with the Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust hospitals – the consultants have been fantastic at getting involved and helping to provide work experience to our participants.”

Another attendee at the event was Toni Semmence, a PhD student who volunteers on the Spectroscopy in a Suitcase programme. She said: “I went to a school a couple of years ago, and one of the students had lots of questions about chemistry and about studying at Imperial, which I did my best to answer. Last year he came and found me in the department here at the College – he got in.”

Dr Rebecca Holloway

Dr Rebecca Holloway was a Research Associate at the NHLI for over five years. Rebecca has been involved in a wide range of outreach activities – an involvement which continues even now she has left the College. She said: “For me, it’s all about the reaction from the kids – it’s the light bulb moment when they understand something that they didn’t get before. I was involved in the recent animal research event for schools, and the way it changed their perceptions was amazing.”

John Neilson, College Secretary & Registrar, gave a short speech at the event, thanking everyone for their involvement, and emphasising the College’s commitment to outreach. He said: “There is an enormous amount of variety in the different outreach activities that we do, thanks to the efforts of people here today, and we’re now thinking about how we can engage to have an impact that lasts a lifetime.”