By Alanya
We're republishing this blog from one of our fantastic Student Leadership Programme alumni, Alanya, who went on a journey with SNS, from a school workshop, to our online Bridge Builders programme, to our in-person Student Leadership Programme in 2021! Alanya continues to be involved as part of our amazing Youth Leadership Network. Our next programme like this is our very first Model United Nations, taking place in 2023. Learn more and encourage your school to apply here. The deadline for team applications is December 16th!
When I was first introduced to Solutions Not Sides in my A-level Religious Education class, I vividly remember speaking with my teacher afterwards about how exciting it was to hear from the phenomenal speakers and how important and impactful their work was. I went home and excitedly relayed what I was taught until my family became frustrated with how often I was talking about the history surrounding Israel-Palestine. Although I was aware from a young age that I wanted to work for human rights causes, it was the first time I had met people who shared my passion and wanted to channel this into their learning and careers.
In an attempt to fuel the inspiration which had been sparked, I spent the rest of my lower sixth form year researching past trailblazers in history who had fought in varied ways for equity and awareness of different campaigns. This even included leading a Write for Rights campaign at my school, creating presentations to teach students about the work of Amnesty International and encouraging interactivity between young people and human rights topics. When I returned to school after the 2020 Christmas break, my teacher, who organised Solutions Not Sides' visit, recommended that I apply for a new opportunity called the Bridge Builders Programme that was being held to bring students together online. I was shocked at how incredible it sounded; teaching students about human rights, connecting them with phenomenal organisations and upscaling their teamwork skills to make a difference in their own communities? All for free?
I didn’t think it was real until I received an email stating that I had been accepted for the programme, instigating a whole new wave of telling all my family and friends about the opportunity and what I would be learning. Across the intensive two-week sessions targeted on identity, faith, peace-making, Israel-Palestine and conflict resolution, I felt inundated with new knowledge and skills (all of which I tried to neatly keep notes on). That excitement was only amplified when I was accepted for the Elliott Simmons Student Leadership Programme in August 2021, which wouldn’t have been possible without the encouragement from the Bridge Builders team and the unwavering support of my mother, who always listened to my excited ramblings on how great the programmes were.
When I arrived at The Woolf Institute in Cambridge, effervescent and somewhat disorientated from the 5am train journey, the energy across the group couldn’t be contained. Across the programme, I lived and trained alongside a group of strangers who by the end of the week I would call my friends. We spent the days earnestly listening to speakers from across the world discussing global conflict and enacting peacebuilding in all facets of decision-making, unanimously trying to become enriched by the knowledge taught by leading advocacy and charity professionals. I vividly remember leaving a session with speakers from Israel and Palestine, having heard them discussing their journeys and aspirations, feeling moved by their empathy and commitment to building bridges with those who thought differently from their own understanding. As the week came to an end, sessions exploring themes from conflict communication to public speaking to peace and leadership encouraged us to perform student activism on our prospective campus’.
This was particularly exciting, as I had found out two weeks earlier at my A-level results day that I had secured a position at Cardiff University to study Media, Journalism and Culture (BA). From partaking in programmes hosted by Solutions Not Sides, I was ecstatic that I could combine my passion for humanitarianism with my freshly taught change-making skills in a course I had always dreamed of studying. One year later, having started the second year of my course and now holding editorial positions at Quench magazine and Gair Rhydd newspaper, it’s difficult not to recognise the prevalence of the skills taught from the programmes across my personal, professional, and academic life. More specifically, I found these experiences and skills have aided in my voluntary internship with the UN House of Scotland that I excitedly joined this past September.
While it’s a big leap from my original excitement at that first Solutions Not Sides workshop, four years later I wouldn’t be where I am today without the support, guidance, and encouragement of all those at SNS over the years. I encourage you to take that first step with SNS, you never know where it might lead you.
To apply as a team for our upcoming Model United Nations programme, which will embody many of the traits Alanya highlighted in her blog, head over to its webpage. You can also keep an eye out for future Student Leadership Programme announcements here, and if you'd like Solutions Not Sides to run a workshop in your school, head here. Thank you!