Posted Thursday 10 October 2019
Last year, over 438 of our alumni at Kingston shared their valuable time to volunteer in support of Kingston students. On 26 September, we hosted our first Alumni Champions Celebration event to celebrate this success, and to say thank you for the great contribution that our alumni volunteers and donors have made.
Trish Reid, Vice-Chancellor for Teaching and Learning, spoke of her gratitude for the time and effort that our alumni have dedicated to ensuring that students at Kingston fulfil their potential. She also expressed her delight that so many of our alumni are invested in improving life chances across Kingston University's diverse student body. The success that Kingston has in widening access for students to come to University, and closing the attainment gap once they get here, has been nationally recognised on numerous occasions. The contribution our alumni have made via mentoring, providing careers advice, and funding scholarships and bursaries has been invaluable in helping us achieve this.
Our students aren't the only ones who benefit from volunteering. Paul Das, a Beyond Barriers mentor, shared the benefits he felt from mentoring a student last year: "The process of giving my time, only about an hour a month, gave me an element of contentment. It meant something to my own soul, and my own being, and showed me how I can effectively make changes to myself."
Students Melissa Hariz and Dylan Friese-Greene shared their experience of speaking to our alumni as Student Callers on our Inspire the Future Campaign. "Every single one of you has something different to offer compared to the person sat next to you." Melissa, who is due to graduate this year in BA Filmmaking, said. "Speaking to alumni over the phone has given us encouragement and advice that builds our confidence."
We have lots of upcoming opportunities to volunteer, and you can register as an Alumni Champion to receive email updates about volunteering. Read more about our Beyond Barriers mentoring scheme.
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