Being a Change Maker: A student’s look at UK Unplugged’s University of Liverpool Programme

Being a Change Maker: by Shreya Shukla

I undertook a placement in my final year of university called the ‘Change makers programme’ and it was a wonderful experience. We learnt about UK Unplugged and the impact their boxes have on children and young people struggling with their mental health.

I gained valuable skills like creating good social media content by making unboxing videos and reels, learning how to use Canva, creating Instagram posts, etc. We also built our LinkedIn profile, which is an essential tool for our digital identity and future networking.

We took a field trip to the Baltic where we met local businesses and practiced our networking and business engagement skills. We explored why these companies might want to collaborate with UK Unplugged and learnt how to motivate them to sponsor a social enterprise like this one. This was my favourite part of the placement as it was quite interesting getting to know local businesses and their creative ideas.

Our next sessions were in Bloom Building, Birkenhead where we learnt how to use storytelling to connect businesses with impactful social causes and practiced designing posters and leaflets on Canva to present our ideas effectively. This is where we were learning to develop our presentation and communication skills. Next, we refined our pitches, explaining UK Unplugged’s aims and objectives to local business, aiming to secure sponsorships that can make a real difference in alleviating the NHS Mental Health waiting list.

This placement has made me more confident by teaching me skills like public speaking, persuasion, and fundraising skills. This was such a fun experience where I got to learn so much about UK Unplugged, gained a number of skills while also making friends along the way.

Shreya is a Change Maker and an international student from India studying at the University of Liverpool.