Eliza

Throughout the Envision programme, Eliza and her team showed incredible dedication to supporting their local community by setting up school uniform donation boxes. Supported by mentors from VolkerFitzpatrick [corporate volunteer partners], Eliza developed confidence, communication, and essential teamwork skills – ultimately leading her team to win their Envision final.

What were your expectations when you first joined Envision?

When I came it was really welcoming. It was a good experience because I learned a lot and I spoke to people I wouldn’t usually speak to.

Can you tell us about your project?

It was influenced by the cost of living crisis, and we decided to make a box dedicated to branded old school uniform that people could use instead of buying brand-new uniform every year, because we know it can be really expensive. We put that box in the primary and secondary reception and it’s open for anybody to access during the day.

What challenges did you face and how did you overcome them?

One of the challenges we faced was when we were designing the box. We painted onto it straight away and it didn’t work. It was a bit of trial and error, but again with our teamwork skills we carried on, we worked together, and we found a suitable solution. I think I’ve improved in teamwork because before I would just want to do it by myself. Working together was a bit awkward at first, but by the end I was able to communicate with my team a lot better. The boxes ended up looking really good and we were proud of how it turned out.

What was your favourite thing about working with the mentors?

My favourite thing was coming together every few weeks to get support from them and hear their ideas. They helped me think about how I present myself to people who don’t already know me, and that’s something I’ll take forward. It felt nice to know that we had older people rooting for us. I learnt that how I communicate with others can show how dedicated I am to what I’m doing.

What is one thing you’d tell someone who was thinking about joining Envision?

I’m going to take the skills that I have now on with me throughout the years. I want to do something in psychology, so it’s good that I’ve improved my communication because that’s really important—not just for work, but also for my GCSEs and the subjects I pick. And it’s just a really nice thing to do. You know you’ve done something for the community when you finish it too.