Our Undergraduate students succeed on York Leaders programme

Posted on 12 April 2021

Education second year undergraduate students undertook the York Leaders programme virtually this year due to the pandemic providing students with the chance to connect beyond their department and to have some form of extra-curricular activity.

Here, we get a first-hand glimpse into the experience of our participating students.

Hathaway's (BA English in Education) team won the group presentation element of the programme:

"York Leaders programme is a fascinating opportunity to meet many talented and like-minded peers, as well as to receive professional training and learn about what leadership stands for, how to build a personal brand etc. I enjoyed all webinars very much - in fact, they were eye-opening for me. I still remember the discussion on ethical leadership and celebrity examples. It is always nice to hear different, even completely opposite opinions. The diversity of the programme made me re-evaluate my values and refresh my perspectives viewing issues.

After the initial webinars, the programme tended to be all about teamwork. We were given a topic to present on: post-covid sustainability. Despite the pandemic situation meaning that we could only communicate with each other via zoom or messenger, our team (a group of 11 students) managed to distribute tasks based on everyone’s preferences/strengths and get along quite well.

At first, I found it hard to tackle the task fully online with people I barely knew. But after we separated into smaller groups (intro groups, app part etc.), I found it easier to engage more- updating my team on my progress, commenting on others’ work.

Then things got smoother: we managed to have several rehearsals, which was not easy, considering quite a few members had assessments due. Instead of asking everyone to attend each meeting/ rehearsal, we used an app to choose the time when most people were available and at least one member in each separate group could attend.

I still remember our last rehearsal zoom, which was only hours before our final presentation, we did some final amendments in terms of time for each slide. We timed each slide and each part. It was quite exciting-like T-minus moments.

We were scheduled as the penultimate team to present which gave us a chance to view other groups’ presentations—and we found another team had a very similar app design to ours. We panicked for a few minutes and soon decided to highlight the differences between ours and theirs, and curtailed some time spent in other parts. We went calm and smooth in the final presentation and gave each other encouragement throughout the whole process!

One fascinating thing I remember is that after the presentation and Q&A, we were like saying we would win, but one member said, "yes we did well but let’s not predict the result". I guess one reason that made our team win the final presentation is that we had a good balance in the team: we had passionate ones, critical ones, encouraging ones and always calm ones. And above all, everyone is a go-getter, diligent to have work done successfully.

After the announcement that we won in the presentation, we cheered and sent appreciation to every member for their hard work an

“The York Leaders Programme was an amazing opportunity and I am so thankful to have been accepted. I was unsure at first but I am happy that I did apply. The Programme aided me on building up skills, such as resilience.

I am aware the Programme would have carried out in person. However, COVID had other ideas. Carrying out a project about sustainability online with students I had not met before was slightly nerve racking. However, we were all in the same boat and worked together to row said boat in the right direction.

In my group’s project, we all worked on what our strengths were. I researched academic literature, designed the PowerPoint presentation and also ended up being one of the presenters. I recall being asked quite a niche question by one of the panels it’s but I managed to give answers until said panellist asked no more.

The York Leaders Programme taught me also how to juggle not only my university course’s work but also campaigning in the YUSU elections. This was quite stressful but I could transfer skills from all three to each other. Juggling the Programme, studying and election campaigning made me aware that organisation is key but fitting in breaks is possible, even with a busy schedule like I had.

Overall it was a fantastic experience. If you’re unsure if you want to apply for next year’s Programme, I say go for it!”

d started to plan our next steps. I guess that is the gist: winning in the York Leaders programme is not the end, but a new start towards more and bigger opportunities for everyone.

The group work is something I will always remember and treasure - we still keep our group chat and manage to share opportunities/ updates there:) I have learned a lot from all group members and refreshed my knowledge of ‘leadership’. I am ready for more challenges."

Another of our students, Jasmine Moody, said the following:

“The York Leaders programme was an amazing opportunity and I am so thankful to have been accepted. I was unsure at first but I am happy that I did apply. The Programme aided me on building up skills, such as resilience.

I am aware the programme would have carried out in person. However, COVID had other ideas. Carrying out a project about sustainability online with students I had not met before was slightly nerve racking. However, we were all in the same boat and worked together to row said boat in the right direction.

In my group’s project, we all worked on what our strengths were. I researched academic literature, designed the PowerPoint presentation and also ended up being one of the presenters. I recall being asked quite a niche question by one of the panels but I managed to give answers until said panellist asked no more.

The York Leaders programme taught me also how to juggle not only my university work but also campaigning in the YUSU elections. This was quite stressful but I could transfer skills from all three to each other. Juggling the programme, studying and election campaigning made me aware that organisation is key but fitting in breaks is possible, even with a busy schedule like I had.

Overall it was a fantastic experience. If you’re unsure if you want to apply for next year’s Programme, I say go for it!”