Finlay is a BSc (Hons) International Development with Economics student and part of the Gold Scholarship Programme at the University of Bath, which requires scholars to complete 50 hours of volunteering a year.
This inspired him to get involved with a variety of projects and roles, during which he discovered new interests and passions. Grace Smith, a current Bath Insights intern, caught up with Finlay to talk about the opportunities that came his way and how he made the most of them.
Organising, organising... and more organising!
One of the key projects I took a role in was One Young World Bath – an annual forum event which encourages people and speakers to come together to raise awareness about present, real-world issues.
I put myself forward to be part of the committee and was successful in gaining a place as the Logistics Manager. I definitely developed my resilience after having many people drop out of the team, which meant my role became even more intense with a higher responsibility.
I had to organise things such as the catering, photography and videography in time for the event. There was just so much planning that needed to be done for it.
I also saw how everyone works differently, which I realised from looking at past committees’ work. And I was like, ‘OK, right, I needed to organise a new spreadsheet for my team to help them stay on track’. This helped build my organisation and problem-solving to help get the job done, as well as being proactive for the next committee through this more useful document.
These are great skills for a degree like mine, where working across numerous teams and keeping an organised environment is vital!
Being a Gold Scholar
I have plenty of experience completing volunteering across numerous organisations, notably my time as Chair of the Amnesty International Society at the University.
Through this role, I got to oversee the main campaigns of the society, such as Period Poverty, Food Poverty, Anti-Racism and more. This was a big role for me, but I found it thoroughly enjoyable and rewarding. To be able to achieve successful campaigns, I was responsible for organising meetings, events, fundraisers and more, which helped me develop my leadership skills alongside planning and coordination.
One of my projects was to try and encourage the University to implement a scholarship for an asylum seeker student, as this wasn’t an option at Bath at that time. We raised some money and the university approved it. It was a big, big, big thing that I did and something I’m really proud of.
Despite being able to fill my Gold Scholar hours with just these two experiences, I thought the sky is the limit with opportunities at Bath. My mindset is always wanting to develop and improve myself, which led me to become an Outreach Campus Ambassador, as well as an Academic Representative for my course.
Representing the University within these roles allowed me to refine and develop my communication skills, as well as my independent leadership. I think taking on previous roles helped me feel more confident applying for new ones, as I knew I had experience working within a team as well as transferable skills.