Welcome to our first One Degree community newsletter
It's been a long time coming, but finally we are here!
Welcome to our monthly newsletter which we plan to fill with a summary of what has just happened, what is about to happen and upcoming campaigns and events we are involved in that we would love you to get involve in too.
We hope it will be interesting reading for your journey to or from work.
Please do let us know what you would like included in these newsletters, or what you would like to see more or less of.
As always, thank you for being a part of One Degree.
Oh and by the way...as this is the first issue, it will be longer than normal.
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Watch our 2015 film above. This film has been made possible by Steven Cholerton of Sentient Pictures
For a summary of our 2015 student and programme results please click here
Full a whole host of great pictures check out our Facebook page here
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Graduation day 2015
For the first time our student graduation was held at the Soho Theatre. A departure from our normal Emirates Arsenal Stadium format, we hoped this would be a more intimate and casual approach while still maintaining a formality needed for our event of the year.
Our line-up this year included Yvonne Eba, an inspirational young performance poet & vocalist and founder of Life Creations; a young up-and-coming comedian, Leanne Lashley; a speech from our 'Overall Student Achievement Winner of the Year', Myron Fernandes; a few words from One Degree CEO, Roger Wynne-Dyke; some tasty snacks; and a moving speech from One Degree trustee and mentor, Misa Zahar (read Misa's speech here - definitely worth a read for those of you that missed it).
Depending on our cohort size each year, I think we can safely say we have found a fantastic venue for our smaller groups.
Have a look at our graduation photos here
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2015/2016 programme update
Although our first autumn programme in 2014 was a success, we are unable to fund a full 10 session autumn programme again this year. We are therefore planning a few warm-up team building sessions in late November followed by a full spring programme starting in January 2016. Dates, times and locations are still to be confirmed so please keep an eye out for more details. What we can tell you at this stage is that the location will no longer be held at Newman Catholic College and most likely be at Roundwood Youth Centre, just around the corner from Newman.
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MyOneDegree
A note to new and current mentors - we have set up an exciting and interactive new mentor community called MyOneDegree. This has come about for three reasons:
- We would like to help first-time mentors meet some of our mentor community before you start their first mentoring session.
- We would like current mentors to meet up, or discuss remotely, any experiences and ideas during and/or in-between programmes when possible.
- And of course we aim to give you even more of a chance to network outside of our mentoring sessions or social get-togethers!
For starters please join our MyOneDegree Google Group here. This is where you can get advice and ideas from fellow mentors, as well as organise a meet up before or during programmes.
MyOneDegree is led by a handful of 'Super-Mentors', these are mentors that are giving up even more time to help One Degree through technical assistance, fundraising and the above mentioned mentor community. If you would like to be a part of the small 'Super-Mentor' group please let us know by emailing supermentors@googlegroups.com.
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Especially for our One Degree alumni
Many of our students have been asking when our next ambassador get-together will be. And so in-between programmes and ambassador meet-ups we thought it would be great if we could all keep in touch via student network.
This network has two aims:
- It would be tremendously beneficial for recent alumni and current students to hear stories and ask advice from the more senior alumni.
- An expansive network is worthwhile for everyone in that I know we would all like to help each other achieve our goals both personally and professionally.
Alumni are invited all to send me updates, news, stories, pictures, career progression, travels, anything that I can share in their own newsletter. The idea is to open up an interactive and fun community that all of our alumni can enjoy reading and participating in.
Steps for alumni to get involved:
- I have started a Google Community Group for you to join here. You can either send updates via this group or directly to me at roger@myonedegree.org or via WhatsApp/Text on 07775713394.
- This information will open up conversations and I will pick some highlights to include in your own newsletter each month.
Finally, mentors and supporters, this is where you come in - please keep me updated of work experience & internship ideas, new start-ups, volunteering opportunities and workshops you think our past and present students would benefit from.
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One Degree campaign of the month
We have a started a wristband campaign. Here's how it works:
- Order either 10, 20, 50 or 100 of our cool and trendy purple One Degree wristbands by emailing roger@myonedegree.org with your postal address. This will not cost you anything!
- Sell the wristbands to friends, family and colleagues for a minimum of £2 each
- It starts a conversation: Firstly, by spreading the word of what you are doing as a mentor and hopefully gets more mentors signed up in the process and secondly, it raises money to go directly back into our programmes.
Our next cohort of students will also be given wristbands to sell as part of a social enterprise project.
And yes, there will be a prize for the student and mentor that sells the most wristbands each year!
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Sponsor news!
Once again RM Capital and Market Securities have pledged their support for the second year running by sponsoring five students each through a full 2016 programme.
They join our fantastic list of corporates namely - Westcombe Homes, Tops Pizza, Sourcing Property, IDG UK, and individuals namely - Mrs Clare Woodcraft, Mr M Chughtai, Mr Nadeem Uddin, Mrs Joanne Godall, Mr Syed Jaffery, Mrs Anahita Sarfaraz, Ms Shafaq Shirazi, Dr Werner Wiethege, Mr Toby Hurlstone, Miss F Ladha, Mrs Sharon Sandhu, Ms Madiha Khan, Mr Nishant Gogna, Dr Afsana Safa, Mr Riaz Shah, Mr Nabeel Mughal, Ms Saira Sheikh, Mr Jason Locke, Mr Kamal Haider - who made our 2014/2015 programme possible.
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Final thought...
Beyond our mentoring programme, One Degree is all about the networks we create. This One Degree network helps our students during and beyond their programme time with us, and for our mentors it enables professionals to connect with each other. Finally, this network helps us find new mentors and students and maybe even new sponsors and donors. So please continue to support us in any and every way you can.
If you would like friends, family members or colleagues to receive these newsletters without the obligation of mentoring you can send them the following link to sign up: http://eepurl.com/bCyZzz
Until next time...
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