Breaking Stereotypes with COLAHH students and MUFG

Written by Forida Rahman, Project Manager, The BIG Alliance

The theme for this year’s International Women’s Day set out by the IWD website is to ‘Inspire inclusion’, therefore, to celebrate this important day, MUFG corporate volunteers visited City of London Highgate Hill Academy (COLAHH) to lead workshops and partake in discussions to support this same message. All of which was done as part of the MUFG and COLAHH collaborative program ‘Young Minds, Brighter Futures’.

The day started off with corporate volunteers conducting ‘presentation’ workshops surrounding finance and tech. The Year 7 students were given a masterclass on ‘how to be a good presenter’, emphasising on skills such as communication and teamwork, to foster an inclusive environment.

These skills were then put to practice when students were given the brief to ‘Create an App’ to support career exploration in a fun way for other students. Students took full creative control to come up with their presentations and ways to present. Their presentations took many forms with students dancing and producing visual aids to get their briefs across. For many students these were their first ever presentations, making it a huge triumph in their public speaking journeys.

The second part of the day consisted of a panel discussion with MUFG representation in the form of Karen Owen, the Co-Chief Human Resource Officer for EMEA  and Melissa Borris, an Analyst, for Corporate Sponsorships & Events. The audience consisted of Year 12 and Year 10 female students discussing themes such as ‘Journeys into corporate careers’ and ‘navigating male-dominated career spaces’. Students were engrossed in the discussions asking questions such as ‘how to find your voice and use it in your career?’ and ‘how to become a leader in your chosen field?’.

The exposure to these accomplished professionals and inspired and motivated students, learning about the experiences, challenges, and successes of the panellists.The panel discussion provided students a valuable opportunity to learn and engage, offering them with the tools of growth both academically and personally.

COLAHH is an extremely diverse school with up to 60% of students receiving Pupil Premium. The representation of the characteristics and background of these students are underrepresented within the corporate sector and even more so for female students. In order to bridge this gap and to break the glass ceiling, sessions like these and exposure to these careers are incredibly important for raising student aspirations and exposure to the corporate world. So, thank you to MUFG volunteers for supporting these important sessions on such an important date. And, thank you to the COLAHH students for being motivated at every opportunity.

To stay up to date with the latest news, opportunities and success stories, please sign up to receive our monthly newsletter, here.