Eager Beavers get involved in Media Performance at the University of Bedfordshire!
The University of Bedfordshire Access Partnership Team and third year Media Performance students joined forces on Monday 7th April, to host over 70 young people and their leaders from local Beavers and Cubs troops, (the youngest sections within the Scouting movement).
The day was filled with pirates, skeletons and stories on friendship. There was also a chance to do some myth busting and to get a real flavour of university life. Much to the delight of the young visitors, the Students’ Unions very own Bruno the Bull mascot also made a surprise visit!
As part of their final assessments, the third year students had to run workshops and deliver their productions to an audience of young people. The students visited the groups prior to the day and led workshops based on fun, friendship and teamwork. All the groups were then invited onto campus by the Access Partnership Team for their Higher Education, ‘Sowing the Seeds’ programme. This time with the added twist of a pirate performance by the students part way through the day!
The Access Partnership Team work with local Schools, Colleges and community groups to promote opportunities to access to Higher Education and encourage people to reach their potential. The ‘Sowing the Seeds’ days are aimed at Primary aged children and give them a taste of what a university is like. Fulfilling this objective, whist also giving the final year students an opportunity to succeed in their studies, was a great project for all parties to be involved in.
Luke Middleton one of the Graduate Access Fellows bridging the Academic Faculty and the Access Partnership Team said, “ It was really exciting to be part of this project. We know we deliver great visit days on the campus for young people already, but being able to help facilitate our own students to deliver sessions within the local community was an added bonus”.
One of the Leaders who brought their Beaver Colony along said, “ I have to say a big ‘THANK YOU’ for organising this project. The Beavers had really good day and thoroughly enjoyed themselves during the pirate workshop. Highlights for them have included, the tour of facilities, the t-shirt competition and the graduation ceremony at the end. Of course Bruno the Bull was also a highpoint!”
Jake, aged 7 said, “I learnt that university is fun and you can choose many things to do. Nothing could have be better, it was awesome!”
You can get a flavour of the event from the video of the day: http://youtu.be/Rrh-apwJf7I
Read the article here: http://www.beds.ac.uk/news/2014/april/beavers-and-cubs-taste-university-of-bedfordshire-life
To find out more about the types of activities the Access Partnership Team run locally, check out the information on the website http://www.beds.ac.uk/partners-and-community