📍Not your average weekday... acting as qualified employees at kcl!

This summer, I, alongside 4 other enthusiastic students, recently had the pleasure of taking part in a 5-day work experience at King’s College London, shadowing employees at Bridging Divides. We were able to attain this connection through the already established rapport this workplace had with our sixth form prior to and were fully supported by a lovely team of researchers: Jonas, Thai-sha, Cali, Daniella, Haruka, Isabelle, Dan, Devi and Koraima!

Monday:

The first day served as means to get to know one another: we began with a friendly icebreaker game of ‘Stand Up If You’, where we shared mutual interests. This was then followed up by a campus tour which included their unbelievably massive library, artistic and whimsy museums as well as student courtyards. We were lastly assigned with a mini research proposal on a dream project of our choosing that is to be worked on for the duration of the entire week where we’ll present it to one another!

Here are pictures taken from our excursion:

What particularly caught my eye was the immense passion for influential figures as the museum was able to encapsulate the sincere zeal people had for celebrities. In the photo below is Nina Simone’s chewing gum that was collected by one of her many admirers, Warren Ellis. He viewed the piece of gum as continuation of her spirit, fortified by its presence. This photo was taken in an exhibition during our tour!

Moreover, our mentors Daniella, Isabelle, Jonas, Thai-Sha, and Cali revealed the student courtyards that had the ambience of one where everyone felt comfortable and snug. This only goes to reinforce that it’s not solely an educational institution, it’s also a community; a family!

Essentially, we were given an insight into the niche parts of the campus – what's not surface-level, and spoiler: those hidden details are what truly give the campus its character. Where I expected to be placed into a modern office and to embrace the typical London corporate atmosphere, all anticipations were surpassed!

Tuesday:

The following day, we started off with an amazingly executed interactive workshop on social media and AI led by Haruka! Here, we scanned a QR code to access an interactive presentation, enabling us to give our individual responses and share our personal likings in real time as the presenter spoke, creating a much more engaging and participatory experience. It was all done anonymous, which I felt served as indicative of their values: participants’ safety and preferences are prioritised at all times!

We also had debates on the topic of the new and upcoming Social Media Ban for under 16s where we weighed out its pros and cons, how it’ll affect teenage mental health which in turn led to how it’ll affect the youth-led research that’s done as part of the many Bridging Divides projects. This workshop was definitely my favourite due to the fact it was very mutual and hands-on!