Jimmy Adepoju, Aged 14
"Summer University has improved my skills in computing, but also it has improved my interaction skills with other people.”
Paramjit Rachel Kaur, 16
"I attended 'Architecture Introduction' which has made me more determined to do architecture as a career.”
Magdi Dawood, 15
“It consolidated my IT knowledge and will help me a great deal when I take my GCSE’s.”
Adam Ballard, 15
“The course showed me how to design games and the aspects of gaming.”
Asma Begum, 15
“I am more informed in the area of Sociology, I am considering studying the subject for A’ Level.”
Jubaida Begum, 15
“Journey to NASA and Beyond was very helpful as I am interested in going into the line of work with astronomy.”
Richard Kabito, 21
“I transferred from HND Business at East London University to BA Business, Law and Economics at North London University. It’s now the fourth week and I have a lot on, but loving it! In particular for Law, one of my assignments is to read an 11 page case and write a case note – SCAREY.”
Natasha Kainth, 14
“I did a dancing course and it helped me to improve my skills in my dance lessons at school.”
Emmanuel Baidoo, 18
“The opportunity to perform at the Friday Chills has really built my confidence in public speaking.” Emmanuel Baidoo, 18
Babli Begum, 17
“I am now thinking about studying Art for further education.”
Irene Dola-Iami, 16
“Discovered a talent that is helping me with my Media and Art studies at school.”
Martina Adu-Yeboah, 18
“I got offered a job at the Bethnal Green Sports Centre and also got offered additional days work from St Andrews Wharf as work experience.”
Sabina Begum, 19
“The First Aid certificate is a good thing to have in both the workplace and outside.”
Nasima Begum, 15
“First Aid course has helped me with my Science coursework.”
Sabih Hassan, 19
“I wish to pursue a career in Medicine and doing the course in First Aid game me some vital basic information on health related issues.”
Suwda Hussein, 15
“I can put the certificate in my NRA folder, making it easier for me to get a job.”
Khairul Chowdhury, 16
“I learnt new skills, which will help in my future career.”
Mary Bailey, 14
“Before I took part in Summer University, I could not swim.”
Kieran Dascupter, 17
“I am about to join a group called CityZen. I have improved my communication skills.”
Rowan Cox, 15
“Helped me understand what I am studying much better and introduced me to opportunities and ideas.”
Student, 14 Intro to web design
“I have found out how to make a web site from scratch.”
Student, 19 CLAIT Excel Spreadsheets
“I'm going to be doing work with Microsoft Excel next year at Uni so I wanted to improve my virtually non-existent skills/knowledge.”
Student, 15 DJ Skills with DJ Pogo
“Djing. I have learnt many more things that I did not know.”
Student, 14 Maths Without Calculators
“I have learned to multiply and divide in new ways.”
Student, 14 Psychology
“I've been more aware of what psychology is and has helped me decide for what I should study for my A-Levels.”
Student, 18 Basketball
“I have gained skills and overall knowledge of tactics and vital techniques in the game of basketball.”
Individual Case Studies received 2006 and 2007
Rima Karim
I have had a variety of roles in Tower Hamlets Summer University and if I gave a detailed account of all my experiences and roles, this document will turn into a length of a thesis!
I started Summer University as a student in 1999 doing courses to help me with my GCSE’s (specifically Maths and French). I then went to do voluntary work for two years as a peer motivator and team leader. Being only 15/16 at the time, it was great to find out that there was more to life than just school and home and in many ways I was luckier than a lot of my school friends who left school only with qualifications whereas I had the added benefit of volunteering experience. I completed over 200 hours of volunteering and got an accredited certificate.
In 2002 I was employed by Summer University to work for the Enrolment team – it is now 2006 and I am still on the team and still enjoy what I do.
Since then, I have also run a Summer University course with the help of a colleague and taken a group of young people to Cornwall for three nights where they engaged in a range of activities from CV building to giving presentations.
One of the most memorable experiences I had was when I got involved in an exchange project called ‘Unboxed’ and had great two week experience in South Africa where UK participants and South African participants had the opportunity to exchanges ideas and experiences about several human rights issues. I even got the opportunity to meet one of Nelson Mandela’s prison inmates who was jailed during the apartheid.
Summer University has definitely brought out a lot of skills in me. Volunteering allowed me to build confidence in myself as well as others and the best thing of all was meeting so many new people! I didn’t think that I would be able to lead a group effectively but team leading and working in one-to-one situations definitely changed my perception of what I am able to do. I’ve just completed my Psychology degree in Goldsmiths and hope to pursue a career in psychotherapy in the near future.
Moinal Hoque
I first was involved with Tower Hamlets Summer Uni as a peer motivator. The following year I became a team leader. I am still involved by participating in the Youth Advisory Group.
Summer Uni put me on the right career path: after completing my London Open College Network accreditation, I completed another youth and play qualification which has resulted in me finding employment in that field.
Now I am completing my Diploma In play, I have 3 work placements in youth and play and I am going to University of East London in September to study a Social Work BA Degree.
Bodrul from Bethnal Green (Bodrul Islam Khan)
I first went to THSU in the summer of 2003 after my GCSEs. I did a few courses, including Driving Theory. My friends were Peer Motivators and I helped them out in that summer and really enjoyed it. I came back the next year as an official Peer Motivator, I did my training and met my fellow summer peers. That summer was one to remember and this is where I made a whole lot of new friends and met a variety of people. I was well impressed by the attitude of the students attending and saw that they enjoyed participating in the courses. After the summer I missed working here as it had boosted up my confidence, self motivation, morale and I even got an accredited certificate in Peer Work. I was able to engage with people from different cultures, faiths and ethnics from my own. The staff I was working with were so helpful and kind, I knew I had to come back next year.
So I came back the following year as a team leader. This time around I would be having a lot more responsibility and managing an individual site and a group of Peer Motivators. The training was more intensive but I learnt a lot from it. I even helped in the Peer Motivator’s training and this helped with my leadership skills. This year I was to receive a Team Leader accredited LOCN certificate and this helped show employers my knowledge of leadership. The summer flew past very quickly and I was disappointed it had to end so quickly. I again made new friends and met new people. I would do Summer Uni again any day because of the experience and memories I got.
After the summer I took a gap year before I headed off to university to study Accounting and Finance. So Tower hamlets Summer University offered me a 4 month placement at the office to do general admin work and help assist with the Community Peer training. I gained office experience but enjoyed doing the training as I like meeting new people. I am hoping to come back this summer if I can and my involvement with THSU has given me a re-think in my career path.
Quote from Bodrul in East End Life 17/08/05
“I really enjoy the work and get great satisfaction from working here. I returned as a voluntary peer motivator and this year I am a team leader. It is much better for the youth to get off the streets and do something creative and constructive. Everyone has the potential and the talent, you just have to find it. I am hoping to return next year.”
James Horrox
I have been a volunteer at Toynbee Hall for the past 5 years and it was there, whilst preparing our own financial literacy course for THSU, that I first came across the Summer Uni prospectus. The range of courses on offer was superb but having already completed the first year of my undergraduate economics degree, and fostered an interest in finance, it was the ‘Trading Floor’ course that most interested me.
The course managed to condense into a week, an introduction to all areas of the bank and how they relate to each other - something that is very difficult to comprehend from the outside. Specific presentations by the human resources department, relating to CV building and job hunting in the industry, were invaluable.
My ideas as to what an investment bank consisted of were expanded upon and I found myself in a situation whereby I could ask questions, no matter how trivial they might have seemed, and be rewarded with knowledge that I couldn’t have obtained from anywhere else. As I was often told: the only stupid question is the one you don’t ask!
At the end of the course I enquired as to whether I would be able to undertake a period of work experience the following summer, my penultimate year of university, and was fortunate enough to be offered two weeks based on the money markets desk. From there I was rotated around the rest of the bank and was able to spend time shadowing traders on different desks, attend morning meetings, and learning about the different products in more detail. I found the whole experience gave me a clearer idea as to my future career path and provided me with greater motivation for the remainder of my undergraduate studies.
On completion of my undergraduate degree I worked for a year at UBS and then returned to study to do an MSc in Quantitative Finance. I am currently working on my Masters thesis and am looking forward to joining Barclays Capital full time on the funds desk next month.
I was greatly helped and influenced by the people I met at Barclays Capital. My time there gave me the insight I needed to find something that I really felt passionate about, and I consider myself very fortunate to be in the position I am in today.
Rose Iliza
My involvement with Tower Hamlet Summer Uni was I acted as a peer motivator. My role was to help young people who were on different courses and helping tutors as well as THSU staff in the day today delivery of the programmes.
Tower Hamlets Summer Uni has helped me discover some of the potentials I didn't know that I had. For example; I didn't know I was capable of meeting new people and start a conversation with them however when I was training to become a peer motivator, I was shown how to approach people and make them as well as myself feel at ease by engaging and disengaging in conversations in a mannerly way. While I was with Summer Uni I learned never to make assumptions just by looking at someone as before I used to just look at people and decide I didn't like them so I never used to make any effort to know them but now thanks to Summer Uni and their training and the friends I made, this has changed to me being open minded.
Right now I am at college doing an AS level in Health and Social Care and hoping to continue next year in the second year.
Rose is a young refugee from Rwanda whose entire family was murdered in the genocide in 1990’s. In summer 2006, Rose had a leg amputated due to a rampaging infection which got into her shin bone from an injury she sustained before escaping to the UK.
Violar Akello
Violar took part in Tower Hamlets Summer Uni photography and street dance courses. She later became a peer motivator. She is featured in the student zone (http://www.summeruni.org/pages/gallery/projects/www/index.mhtml)
Violar recently received an unconditional offer of a place at the London School of Economics to study law, which she is really excited about. She writes:
“Its even better than Cambridge as I can stay in London and get on with whatever I've been doing alongside my studies. For all your encouragement and support, am ever so thankful. When do we start registering to volunteer for Summer Uni? Give my regards to all at Summer Uni and thanks for everything.”
Text from website:
“I am a 19 year old who has also suffered at the hands of the Ugandan rebels. They are brutal, cruel, murderers, rapists etc - there seems not to be the right words to describe them.
I managed to survive but many are those who have succumbed to the knives, guns and hatred of the rebels; died due to hunger, shock, tiredness or restlessness.
I lost my family at the hands of the rebels, it has not been easy and will never be easy without them but... there will never be words enough, consolation or comfort that will ever fill the gap that lies deep in within my heart. The rebels took away the people I held so dear - the people I loved so much.
I have experienced alot and at times wonder how I ever made it through those dark and terrible days. I therefore do not count myself as luck but blessed, a survivor, an over comer, a fighter and most of all a victor. Am trying to live my life now cause I never now what my tomorrow holds.
It has not been an easy journey but am getting there with the support of friends; Ian, Nadina and Hani I forever will treasure you because without you I hardly know what and where I would be I love you all so much; Barbara, Edna, Rosa, Ed, Jane, Betty, Robina, Rose, Jackie, Agnes to name but a few I love you too so much. Thanks for being there for me through it all.
It is my prayer that one day peace will prevail in my homeland - a place I miss so much. I always hope for a better tomorrow and when I pray I ask for the strength to see me through the day I awake to. I hope this site gives you an over view of what is happening in Uganda.”
Tower Hamlets Summer Uni brought together Violar and Rose (see above), both of whom had such similar childhood experiences, and for Rose who had been feeling so alone in this country, their friendship has been a life saver.
Naeem Mahmood
I'm currently working full time as an intern in a TV company which is going great. The channel is called Just Fabulous TV (sky 372) its a new channel soon to launch, based in London, Bermondsey. I'm their in-house graphic designer. I have learnt so much so far. Still plan to finish off my final year at uni after this one year internship though. Hope all is well at SUL! an thanks to all you guys for having them photoshop an flash courses back in the days, that's where it all started for me!
Roxy.A.Peterson.M.F, NVQ, GNVQ, BTEC, BA(hons)
I was involved with Summer Uni for 3 years. I trained in communication skills, team work skills, conflict resolution, presentation skills and equal opportunity policies. I worked as part of the "Peer Motivation Team" for 2 years where I became a team leader in my third. I promoted Summer University and it's initiative to 600+ people at times in conferences with the Princes Trust, the then Millennium Commission and Schools and youth clubs. I met people such as H.R.H the Prince of Wales, the late Earl of Dalkheith (Millennium Commissioner), Ben Elton and Tony Blair. I also carried out tutor and program manager support and administration.
Summer Uni helped me heighten my skills which in-turn helped me and others to build and strengthen a company called Tolerance in Diversity which educates youth about racism and promotes conflict resolution. With all this training I was able to go on and get my Degree. A BA in Design, Semiology and a minor in Political Science.
Right now I am a Teacher and Program Director for a Nationally Recognised Youth Assistance program in the United States of America called VisionQuest. I am currently posted in Orlando, Florida. I can say 100%, hand on heart that Summer Uni was one of the main benefactors to me being where I am today, not forgetting my Mum.
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