Last month, I began my journey as an official Laidlaw Scholar. Months of anticipation had been building up, and I was eager to meet the other scholars in my cohort in addition to beginning the research for my project, which perfectly fit with my interest in rewilding. I still remember the excitement I felt when applying to this programme and getting to meet others who were truly passionate about their chosen areas of research, and also dedicated to becoming an ethical leader too. This is something I am grateful the Laidlaw Scholarship promotes so greatly, as opposed to other research programmes that focus purely on academic output, without the holistic view of character development.
We started with the creation of a shared contract which laid out our commitment to a safe and judgement-free environment, encouraging the sharing of opinions and respecting alternative viewpoints. This really set the tone for a series of engaging discussions with people from different backgrounds, and being able to think critically about my own values and where they came from is something I’ll definitely take away from this experience.
Despite it only being some weeks since the Welcome event, I can confidently say that I have noticed a positive change in my character. Through meeting the cohort and cultivating close friendships with some, despite an initial discomfort with the seemingly endless icebreaker activities the first two days, it has anchored my belief in authentic self-expression and to dive into conversations with enthusiasm and curiosity. It has been so fulfilling to experience these friendships growing outside of the leadership training sessions and hopefully beyond our time as Laidlaw Scholars, and whilst this phrase is incredibly overused, I do truly feel surrounded by like-minded people who inspire me to strive harder for my goals.
Another aspect of myself I have seen enhanced is my confidence, through improved presentation skills. Before Laidlaw, I had done very little public speaking and dreaded the act of talking to a room of people, which was admittedly the case during an icebreaker activity during our first session. I remember stumbling over a few words and becoming ultra-aware of myself standing in front of everyone whilst my group members said their part, hoping my hands didn't look too awkward at my sides. However a couple weeks later, with the person leading the session’s key motto of ‘do something different every day’ replaying in my head, I went up to present our group’s ideas (how to engage a community to reduce river pollution) to the rest of the cohort with Joseph and was pleasantly surprised by how normal and articulate I sounded. I remember asking Daohui sitting near the back of the room to do something with his hands if I was talking too quietly, and when I saw a pair of thumbs up it felt like years of being shy about public speaking dissipating. Although it was still a relatively small room of about 25 people, it felt like a pivotal moment where I realised a lot of my hesitation and worry was just in my head, and I now feel far more self assured and willing to present to larger audiences if any future opportunities arise too.
Besides the palpable development of my character during this time, there are also many things I learnt from Chantelle, Professor Matete Madiba and Guy Richardson (EIGER Performance) relating to collaboration, growth, and consistency. Some ideas that really stuck with me were:
- The standard you walk past is the standard you accept, so lead by example and take action early on if appropriate
- Build up great relationships early, particularly with undervalued stakeholders, and learn what they like to maintain these relationships
- People will always buy from the most enthusiastic and passionate person, so become that
- Tuckman’s model, which indicates a team goes through a process of forming, storming, and norming, before finally performing, and any disruption can reset this model. Therefore learning how to speed this process up can be incredibly helpful too
- The power of resilience and determination, and breaking away from what is the ‘right’ path for you because you know you can have a greater influence and are capable of achieving much more
Finally, to end this long winded reflection, some highlights during this period of time before my research project started include:
- A formal dinner at Ushaw college where two of our leadership training sessions were held, which was so nice seeing everyone’s outfits too. The food (in particular the sticky toffee pudding) was also great, and it was a privilege getting to tour such a gorgeous site.
- The socials in Durham with the Laidlaw cohort (many thanks to the social committee for organising these!) - it was so fun getting to know people I hadn’t had the opportunity to talk with during the leadership training sessions, and getting Urban Oven cheeseburgers with Katarina and my non-Laidlaw friend Aiden after the club was a highlight.
- The inside jokes from shared memories spanning both the official Laidlaw sessions and socials
- The unlimited tea during our leadership training sessions