Golasa, BWAMS Dental Officer, shares her experience delivering a virtual careers based talk at Eden Girls' School, Birmingham.
My name is Golasa and I am the BWAMS Dentistry Officer. I recently gave a talk to approximately 300 students at Eden Girls School in Birmingham. Due to the pandemic, the talk was delivered virtually - which was a bit of a change from the normal BWAMS events! Despite this, the talk was a success and it meant that we could reach so many students.
The talk was about the range of professions in healthcare, giving an insight into them and how to strengthen their potential applications. I gave an overview about the vast range of health care professions; as well as my insight into university life as a dental student. I also gave advice about activities students should partake in to strengthen their applications and gain insight into the roles. Moreover, this could help students decide what careers they would like to pursue dependant on their own interests. At the end of the talk, there was a Q&A session, where students had the opportunity to ask any questions they may have. I found the interactive part of the session was most beneficial for the students as they managed to gain much better understanding of what their futures may hold. This session was an opportunity for me to share my experience as a dental student with potential applicants and provide any necessary advice- which I found rewarding! The highlight for me, is that you can help and inspire so many students whom may ultimately consider a career in healthcare- which they may have thought they could not do.
I found this session beneficial to students and myself; I gained confidence in public speaking and presentation; whilst the students gained information around the healthcare profession and were able to ask questions.It is so important to volunteer and to help in widening access to medical sciences- it is rewarding and allows sharing of knowledge and experience to students. Information and resources for prospective applicants can be limited and hard to access; thus I strongly believe in volunteering for events and talks like this, as I have seen first hand how beneficial they can be. Inspiring students to consider health care professions via these events means they may strive to be the best of themselves and pursue a career they may have thought to be unreachable, and this is what I find to be the best part of BWAMS.
Words: Golasa Sheikh Akbari