Engaging, enlightening and always a little bit quirky: This is Chain Reaction...
Back in April this year on a seemingly destined Zoom call, a collection of four driven, enthusiastic individuals started chatting about the good ol’ days of Yore (ok, our latter teenage years) when the conversation drifted towards what impact lockdown may have on young people today: How would they attend university open days? What would work experience look like? Which job fairs would help them choose their GCSE or Higher-Level options? All very important questions, but they all seemed to be rhetorical; that was until we started thinking that we may actually be able to do something to help. And so, The Chain Reaction Series (CRS) was created.
CRS is an initiative born and bred from a desire to be a part of the wave of positive, community-minded projects blossoming from self-isolation and social distancing. It is an online network for young adults all eager to relate textbook science experiments with the real-life people making it happen. We use ‘kitchen cupboard’ science as a conversation starter with experts, before delving into the how, what and why’s of their job and career, all via a collection of videos themed around a different STEAM[1] topic each week. But to help ground it in the context of work, we have also linked up with career-support networks (like the Cumbria Centre for Leadership Performance) to gain their insights and wisdom in this new world of online assessments, video interviews and zoom-call catch-ups.
We would like CRS to plug a gap self-isolated learning has brought about in recent months, and we have been overwhelmed by the support and belief so many people have given us already. Our Facebook and Instagram followings are constantly growing, and our email notifications have become the soundtrack to our days; evidence of real appetite for uncovering the mysteries between the classroom and the workplace. People have been getting in touch with everything from potential video suggestions to wanting to be involved in filming, whilst others have offered to promote us to their audiences across a variety of channels. It is this passion from strangers from across the industry and beyond that is the real energy behind CRS; we all recognise the importance of the platform and are inspired to make it a success!
But this isn’t just an initiative for lockdown, we believe there is real scope for nurturing stronger relationships between STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Mathematics) industries and young people long into the future. And because of this unwavering positivity, we have set ourselves even bigger ambitions for Chain Reaction – we’d like to engage with even more motivated, passionate individuals to help us support young people through this uncertain time. We’d love to speak to anyone – newbie or seasoned professional; individual or business; school or careers service; nuclear or not – to work together to engage and reassure young people about their futures through our very own Chain Reaction. So if you’re interested in getting involved, or even just fancy a chat about what we do, we’d love to hear from you!
After all, it’s simple ideas which spark chain reactions…
This article is written by us – Arun, Robert, Sarah and Sophie – the team behind The Chain Reaction Series. We’d like to note that the project is a collaboration which would absolutely not be possible without the support of many others, and we’d like to give our sincere thanks to the YGN comms team, the Cumbrian Centre for Leadership Performance, and anyone and everyone who gets involved!
https://www.facebook.com/chainreactionseries/
https://www.instagram.com/thechainreactionseries/
https://twitter.com/SeriesChain
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpIWcJoXBbTcrGjxEh-mMwQ
chainreactionseries@gmail.com