A huge thank you to all our alumni Bristol Volunteers who supported those students who remained on campus or in the city over the winter break, as part of our Bristol Voices programme.
It’s been a pleasure to get to know Y even if our meetings could only be virtual. I hope that when restrictions are lifted she will come and stay with us and see a bit of London. – Diana, Alumna
The programme was open to all but had particularly good take up from our Postgraduate Taught International students. Students were matched up with a member of the alumni community based on common interests, and phone calls and video calls were made to talk about the shared experience of studying and living in Bristol.
Alumni were on hand during the break, when students may have felt particularly isolated, and provided guidance, support and a friendly chat. All of the students on the programme knew that someone was there ready to listen and support them and for some that made all the difference to getting through what can be a difficult time. Conversations ranged from just a friendly chat to careers chat, or talk about cultural and educational interests.
My matched student and I have been chatting regularly since we were introduced; I don’t think any of our conversations have lasted for less than an hour, which hopefully tells you that we’ve been getting on very well. We’ve arranged our next chat for next Tuesday – it’s become a regular slot, so I suspect we’ll continue to put the world to rights for the foreseeable future. – Peter, Alumnus
Although the programme in its current iteration has ended, some of our matched pairs continue to call one another and both students and alumni are really enjoying this relationship.
From the feedback we have received, we know what a huge impact the commitment and time given by our alumni has made. We are very thankful for the continued contribution of all our volunteers.
Bristol Voices is earmarked to run again later this year so if you’re interested in being involved please email alumni-volunteers@bristol.ac.uk and we’ll be in touch.
*Please note that alumni volunteers do not provide professional wellbeing advice. Students who are concerned about their welfare have access to wellbeing support.