Spotlight On...Sonja Bernhard and Emma Britain

This week Sonja Bernhard, School Outreach Officer, School of Arts, Languages and Cultures, and Emma Britain, Academic Enrichment Officer for Humanities, Student Recruitment and Widening Participation, tell us about their widening participation roles.
 

Please can you tell us about your role, and what to you is the best part of your job?

Sonja: I’m based in the admissions team of the School of Arts, Languages and Cultures (SALC). Together with my colleague Cathryn Owen we run the outreach and widening participation programme for our School. The focus is very much on giving secondary school pupils an insight into the different subjects housed in our School and ensuring that no matter what their educational background, they know about the benefits to be gained from an Arts degree. The best part of my job has to be the variety, working with different departments and colleagues across SALC and the University, and different age groups and schools. One day I might run an Art History event for 17-year-olds on campus, involving our academics, colleagues at the Whitworth and student ambassadors, and the next day might see me talking at a school to a group of 11-year-olds about the benefits of studying languages. Emma is my go-to contact in the central Student Recruitment and Widening Participation team – and I’m her go-to contact for SALC.        

Emma: I am based in the central Student Recruitment and Widening Participation Team in the DSE Division of Student Recruitment and International Development. I have two main objectives in my role - to support widening participation (WP) pupils from Greater Manchester in finding out more about higher education in general through the Gateways Programme; and to assist our Humanities academic Schools in providing opportunities for pupils of all ages and backgrounds to explore the benefits of studying humanities degrees. I love the diversity of my job - no day is ever the same, and the range of people I work with on campus expands weekly. I get to celebrate learning and provide opportunities for pupils to be inspired to study for the love of study and to see themselves as a unique collection of skills and experience. Working as a team to help young people find their pathway to achieve their goals is extremely rewarding – especially when we’re working with WP pupils who don’t think attending university is something they could or should aspire to.

What are your key challenges over the coming months, and what are you most looking forward to?

Sonja: June and July is a busy month for outreach – we have key days for Year 12 (lower sixth) students coming up and I will also run a full week of fun language days for younger pupils. I look forward to all of these days, they are always a buzz. However, I’m particularly excited about being given the opportunity to be one of the programme supervisors on this year’s Study China programme. I will spend three weeks in Shanghai, looking after this year’s crop of students.

Emma: All my friends outside of HE think that June and July are quiet for us. They’re always surprised when I tell them it’s the opposite - this is my one of my most concentrated periods of event delivery in the academic year. I have Year 12 Discover Days for Criminology, English, History, and Philosophy, several ad-hoc events for Year 7 and 8 pupils, two parents’ evenings, and a four-day, three-night Year 10 residential Summer School for 80 WP pupils all in the next six weeks. The biggest challenge is ensuring each of these very different sets of pupils has positive and productive interactions with us, targeted to their needs. I also lead on the logistics for planning and delivering each of these events. All of these events are great to work on, but I am most looking forward to the Summer School – we’ve created a packed programme to build knowledge, but also new friendships and aspirations.

If you could tell your colleagues just one key thing about your role, what would it be?

Sonja: That I am really, really grateful for their help – without academics, language tutors and undergraduate and postgraduate students offering taster sessions, and without Emma and her team’s guidance and help, none of my projects could run.

Emma: I would tell Sonja and everyone else in the academic Schools that I am so grateful for their support and contribution to my work. Without their dedication and willingness to give up their time and share expertise, none of the activities I lead on or support could happen. For many of the WP pupils we interact with, you are the first contact they’ve had with University staff – your passion for your subjects and the many benefits of studying in HE always shines through. Thank you!

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve been given?

Sonja: One of my English teachers always used to say to us, as a way of saying good bye at the end of each lesson, “stay hungry”.  When I was 15 I thought this was odd, but it’s great advice: stay open to new ideas and stay curious. You never know where it can lead you.     

Emma: When I was ten years old, a new teacher at my school told me that one day I would go to University. Even though I grew up in Oxford, I didn’t really know what a university was because no one in my family had been. That one statement sparked a curiosity in me to find out, and helped me find my pathway to getting a degree. The lesson I took from this is that just one conversation with a young person can change their whole perspective on themselves, their abilities, and their options.  Now that I am in the privileged position of working with young people, I try and remember this in every interaction I have with them.