Sprint programme

Term 1 is starting on Monday. My third year at Warwick is starting in 2 days. My final year of Warwick begins….

I started it with the Sprint Programme. It was a great way for me to click back into 9am routine. I now live in south Leamington so I had to calculate how long it would take me to get to uni in the mornings since I lived in north last year. All I need to do is add an extra 30mins to my travel time in order to make my 9am. Also, packed lunches are brilliant! This year I am going to promise myself to make lunch every day to take into uni…money is so tight this year so I really need to find ways to save my money!

Sprint programme is a programme aiming to empower female students. Here is the link if you want some more information: https://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/skills/personal/sprint-copy/

It is a 3 day course with a final day in December to give you time to reflect on your progress. We covered topics such as:

• assertiveness in personal and professional settings
• ways to build your confidence in all aspects of your life
• Having the ability to say no to things because it is important to only take on what you can handle
• Mindfulness and meditation
• Setting goals and making small and practical steps on how to achieve them

Those are just a few things of what I learnt at Sprint. We were also offered a mentoring scheme with women who are willing to share their professional experiences and provide support for your growth. That growth could be professional, academic or even personal. It’s just another great way to develop your networking.

Every session we had a guest speaker and from all 3 speakers here are some main points I learnt:

• When applying for a job a man is more likely to apply for a job where they meet about 60% of the criteria whereas for women they would want to meet a higher percentage of the criteria so they feel more comfortable and confident in their ability.
• It is normal to swap and change their jobs. The speakers explained how they chose what sector they would work in and then explore the jobs within that sector and seized opportunities when they arrived in order to progress in their career.
• It’s perfectly fine to allow your job or career to be steered by your personal life, that could be due to having children, your partner or other family commitments.

Some things that I wish would be considered during the programme is to focus a lot more on what it is like to be a woman in the working world. Most of the tasks seemed quite generic in the sense that I could imagine a male benefitting for the task. Therefore, I was expecting it to be more female orientated.

I don’t want to give too much away, but Sprint is perfect for girls who want to find out ways to push themselves out of their comfort zone, to meet amazing and inspiring women and to learn a lot about themselves by analysing their strengths and weaknesses.