I still remember that 10 years ago, we went on a family holiday to Thailand. I'd never traveled that far and I fell in love with the food, sweet people and beautiful places we visited.
My favourite part was seeing the White Temple, which as the name already gives away, is completely white on the outside and has some mirror pieces to reflect the sunlight. It has some incredible frescos and is just unique. Even 10 years later, I remember the small details and sense of awe I had when I saw it.
After working in corporate events for a couple of years, there is a big difference working for a smaller company where the one main event each year is in the summer.
I was used to higher stress levels every 2 months due to another event taking place that was my responsibility to run smoothly. Now, working for Oxford Scholastica, I feel more relaxed and trust in my abilities to manage my stress levels.
I am also excited to feel more of a purpose to my job and seeing the hard work of the team come together in the summer when the students arrive and get to experience Oxford.
To me, keeping a growth mindset is important and to be open to learning new things, even if it can be challenging. Given the small team and all the ambitions we have to grow and make the summer school even better, I learned that you make a 'now' to-do list and a 'future to-do list'. Never just throw away an idea, always write it down and have a review day of ideas each couple months to see if you can now put that new idea into action. That is a really good way to keep having that growth mindset and to keep working on challenges that will become opportunities.
Our programme can truly transform students, but from my experience, it mostly gives them the confidence they need to maximize their potential.
I've seen very shy students become more vocal and excitedly tell their parents whole hour stories about their course and their day, which they didn't do before. One of the students did the law course with us, and he wasn't sure it was something for him due to all reading required. After the mock trial, and putting all that reading work into practice and experiencing how the reading work came to life, he was so inspired to really study law.
It was wonderful to see him feel so confident and helping him to open up to the possibilities of what studying law means for a potential career.
I would love to have participated in the experience medicine course! Going into the hospital to really talk to patients, talking to doctors about their profession and learning what first-year medical students learn, sounds amazing to me.
My mom is a nurse and I've always been interested in the medical profession, but due to my poor math skills that path wasn't really open to me. Maybe if I had experienced what it would be really like, I might have worked harder on my math skills and tried to get into medical school.
Everyone in the team is passionate to inspire young students to figure out what they could study and maybe pursue as a career.
We all experienced not fully knowing what you'd get into when going to university and what that study course offers for job opportunities. So we all relate to the students and are so keen to help them.
For us, each student is unique and we care deeply about the student having an amazing summer with us. We also have an amazing alumni network and speak to past students on a regular basis. I'm very proud to be part of such a motivated and entrepreneurial team.
Having a passionate team of people who believe in the company's values and mission is what will make a company successful.
Everyone working for Oxford Scholastica wants to inspire and help maximise the young students to reach their potential and have an amazing summer experience they won't forget.
It is so important to feel a common purpose and get excited by small and big achievements together that this will drive the company forward.