Monday 15th July 2024

At Beams, we’re passionate about helping young people in schools and colleges. This month, we welcomed Ciarra, a work experience student who spent a week with our Fundraising and Marketing team.

In her first ever blog post, Ciarra will be sharing her experience.

“The first time I walked in I instantly knew how much of a heart-warming and welcoming charity, We Are Beams is. I previously knew from family members working with Beams, how caring this charity is and the amount of hard work and dedication that goes into it to make it the best it could possibly be.

However, the morning of the first day I came in, I was so nervous. I was so worried despite meeting some of the team a few weeks prior and knowing how lovely they all are. But, when I first walked in I was greeted by the team and they all made me feel so welcome straight away. They immediately gave us a tour of the building and I met everyone working at Beams while also going through with me what kind of things I would be doing throughout the week, which made me feel so comfortable to be working for them in the week.

On Tuesday, I had a conversation with the Income Generation and Development Lead, Caroline Brinkman, and we spoke about what I am interested in while also telling me about many different things about writing PR. I am so to grateful Caroline who spent the time with me to go through this, as it’s information which I would not have learnt elsewhere and I am now able to take that information onto future experiences and implement it into my school work. I was then set a task to write 250 words on what it’s like to live with autism. At first I was a bit overwhelmed as I never had written anything like this before. But I took on the challenge, with some support from the team and started to research information about autism and the difficulties that come with it. I enjoyed working on this task as it made me more aware and links to what the charity is about, wanting to educate people about disabilities as well as providing support services for children with additional needs and their families in Kent.

Throughout the week I met many amazing people, however one specific person sticks out in my mind. One afternoon a 14 year old girl came in, called Felicity who spoke about her experience of swimming in the London Youth Games in Beckenham in May earlier this year. She and her mum spoke about Felicity’s diagnosis of Cerebral Palsy and how she has always loved swimming and it has always been a dream for Felicity to take part in something like this. Felicity’s story particularly stands out to me as her dedication, talent and achievements are truly inspirational. As a 14 year old myself, I was amazed by her talent and her not only taking part but getting the gold medal, while having a diagnosis of Cerebral palsy, but overcoming the challenges of her diagnosis and not letting her disability control her life, which was always a wish of her mum’s. I will always remember Felicity and her story and the impact it has had on my life and many others around her.

I am so grateful to have been able to have this experience and I have been able to work with Beams this week. I have learnt many new skills in the week and meeting so many new people. I have learnt what PR and Marketing is on a more in-depth level, while learning how to write specific PR and how to structure it. I have also learnt many new websites and ways to advertise a charity on different social media channels which I feel I can bring this information into future careers and jobs of mine.

This week as also allowed me to gain new perspectives on the charity and the challenges that come with disabilities and the affects it has on their families. I would highly recommend Beams to everyone as it is a wonderful charity with amazing people and services. It is a great environment to work and to attend their services and I would definitely recommend to students looking for work experience wanting to work in some sort of marketing or fundraising career. I have really enjoyed my week volunteering and I’m sure you would too.”

(Pictured) Ciarra during her work experience placement