March has been the busiest month for me so far this year, with events left, right and centre to support the wider team, as well as press coverage galore for National Apprenticeship Week. Here are some of the things I have been up to in March.

National Apprenticeship Show

On 6th March, I attended the National Apprenticeship Show in Sandown Park, Esher with the Schools and Colleges Outreach team to promote degree apprenticeships. It involved standing and talking to prospective apprentices, parents, teachers and careers advisors to tell them what degree apprenticeships are, and why they are a hugely viable alternative for higher education. It was a really nice way to promote what I am doing and raise awareness of the Degree Apprenticeship schemes that Pearson College London offers.

I also assisted in giving a presentation about what degree apprenticeships are and was able to share my story with teachers and students that might be interested in following the same career path. Students and teachers asked questions specifically about my programme which enabled me to further expand on the course I am doing and what it involves.

NHS Event Southampton

On 7th January, I travelled to Southampton with the Business to Business team to raise awareness of the Chartered Management Degree Apprenticeship (CMDA) and the Senior Leaders Master's Degree Apprenticeship (SLMDA) both to employers within the NHS and employees that might like to take on a degree apprenticeship to further progress their management skills.

This was within Southampton General Hospital alongside a few other providers and was a great way to showcase the programmes that Pearson College London runs to people working in the public sector and showing them how it could develop them.

YAAN

This month, I have also been to two events with the Young Apprentice Ambassador Network (YAAN), totaling my event attendance to four YAAN events this year.

The first event was a Careers Fair at my old school, which is called Charters School and is located in Berkshire. This event was a great way to show younger students that university is not the only route into higher education. It was also an opportunity to speak to my old teachers about the route I chose to take and tell them more about what it entails, so that they can pass it onto their students. It has resulted in them wanting me to come back and deliver more talks and presentations to give students the best information possible about what they can do with their future.

The second event was a presentation at Slough and Eton Business and Enterprise College which focused on apprenticeships, what they are and how you can go about discovering and applying for one. Due to the fact that the audience was mainly sixth form and their parents, this talk focused in on Higher and Degree Apprenticeships, giving me the perfect opportunity to share my story.

The YAAN events that I have been doing have been a great way for me to boost my confidence in presenting and also to take pride in what I am doing and promote apprenticeships.

Brunel UCAS Fair

On 13th and 14th March, I attended the West London UCAS Fair at Brunel University. This was a great way for me to learn more about the courses at Pearson Business School on the traditional pathway and at Escape Studios so that I could talk to prospective students for both schools and share course information with them.

On both days, I talked to lots of students interested in everything from Accounting to Law to Business Management and it was a great way to experience what the Outreach team do on a daily basis and support the wider team outside of the office.

Press Coverage for National Apprenticeship Week

On top of the coverage that I secured in February in the lead up to National Apprenticeship Week, I also secured some coverage during National Apprenticeship Week. This included:

• Five profiles on the Not Going to Uni website of our Degree Apprentices.
• A Q&A that Not Going to Uni asked me to do, both for National Apprenticeship Week and International Women's Day.
• Top tips for Applying to Apprenticeships - RateMyApprenticeship

University coursework

On top of all of this, I have had to crack on with my university coursework as the deadline is creeping up on me (April). Therefore, I have been planning and starting to write up the sections of that in my spare time and at weekends.

Graduate Premium project

Finally, this month I have started to work on my Graduate Premium project, which focuses on the value of a degree and whether university is worth all the fees that students pay for it. This is going to be printed and sent out prior to an event coming up this year about the Graduate Premium, where panelists with different expertise will be debating the matter.

If I can cut it down to 2500 words, I will also be able to submit it as a Self-Managed Learning project for my degree too!

See you in April! Thanks for reading!