The University of Westminster Alumni Team hosted their first virtual What it Takes event of the year on 11 February about building resilience and overcoming adversity.
The What it Takes event series features an array of exciting and innovative alumni speakers, who share their experiences and advice on a diverse range of topics, focusing on employability, personal and professional development. The series is being delivered virtually, with all talks and presentations targeted at current students and recent graduates.
Taking place on 11 February, the event saw a panel of alumni sharing advice and their personal experiences on building resilience and overcoming adversity. Justin Haroun, Senior Lecturer, Director, and Co-founder or the Centre for Resilience at the University of Westminster chaired the panel, and was joined by alumni Sarah Bennett-Nash, William Frank and Kate Fismer. The panel shared practical tools and approaches to managing stress, setbacks and navigating a crisis, including the challenges that have been raised by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Throughout the event, the speakers also covered topics including recommended skills and practices for students and recent graduates, personal versus community or societal resilience, the dangers and pitfalls of the concept of resilience and how to guard against these, as well as useful resources and where to seek help. There were over 200 student and recent graduate attendees, who were able to ask the panel questions in a dedicated Q&A session.
The event was organised in partnership with the Creative Enterprise Centre (CEC), who run an award-winning programme of workshops and events to aid students, graduates and alumni to develop transferable enterprise and employability skills, and to gain first-hand industry insights and networks.
Talking about the event, one guest said: “It was great to hear individual stories of every speaker, I definitely found it very inspiring and encouraging to continue with the industry I'd like to work in despite those difficult times and the impact they hold on my life. Thank you so much!”
Find out more about upcoming events in the What it Takes series.
