#Weyforward are introducing the Weymouth and Portland Idea League into all the local secondary schools and 
colleges from September 2016. They are looking for mentors from the local, national and international community to help take young people’s ideas for digital and physical business, mobile apps, events and community works into reality. Mentoring will be done online and/or face-to-face. If you think you can help or want more information please contact Baron Miles on milesb@budmouth.dorset.sch.uk and bazmeistergen@gmail.com (use both addresses as the college email system sometimes filters people out!)
To see the Idea League as it currently stands please visit: http://weyforward.net/yourideas.php
The mentoring system is somewhat different to the traditional model as the students. We envisage it as follows:
- Idea is placed on Idea League website by student (online comments and voting takes place)
- We find appropriate mentor(s) for the most popular ideas or a mentor volunteers for an idea they like (sometimes amazing ideas are not popularly recognised as such until they are made into a product).
- Mentor sets mentee a specific task via email to coordinator at school. This task will be appropriate to the idea and the student, and will be the result of dialogue between the potential mentor(s) and the school where the student is based. This will allow us to make sure the student is serious about the project and will allow the school to do the initial support.
- Upon completion of the task the mentor and mentee can discuss the results, looking at the successes and areas to improve. This can be done online via email or via Skype/Hangouts. Mentor and mentee agree the next step and organise sensible timeline for completion of next task based on honest discussion. School continue to oversee task timeline. If any issues arise with trying to complete next task school will intervene at first and, if necessary, set up an extraordinary session between mentor and mentee to solve the challenge. This continues until the project comes to fruition or ends for other reasons.
Having a team of mentors around a project allows mentors to dip in and out of a project based on their time commitments. After all, the students are in no rush to have their projects come in to being. They have to be in education until they are 18. We are also trying to remain as flexible as possible regarding online and face-to-face. Some students will benefit from the relationship a face-to-face meeting creates, but others will need only direction and guidance. Again, having a team of mentors around an idea will allow local people to come into the schools and colleges and people from further afield to focus on provision online.
What we need prior to the project: an brief overview of your experience (5-10 bullet points), a brief blurb (three or four sentences) on what you’ve been doing over the last three years and an indication of which of the areas you can support (digital business, physical business, mobile apps, events or community projects) so that we can link you with the right projects as they emerge.
For more details or to volunteer please contact Project Manager Baron Miles on miles@budmouth.dorset.sch.uk and bazmeistergen@gmail.com
