Love, Bokyong
To the warm, welcoming home of social impact, the Social Impact Studio
The studio took under its wings the Matariki Global Citizenship program in 2019, and with that adopted me, Bokyong, into the Studio family.
The Matariki Global Citizenship programme is a special programme that Otago is a part of with six other partner Universities across the globe, with the aim of supporting an understanding of global citizenship and education of global citizens. I was lucky to be selected as a representative for Otago University for the programme in 2018, and continued my involvement into my final year of my Law / Chemistry degree.
Tasked with embedding and establishing the Matariki Global Citizenship programme at Otago, the Social Impact Studio was the perfect space for this challenge. The team (especially Sze-En) fostered an environment that was empowering, critical, conscientious and fun - allowing me to design a programme that could not only support global citizenship, but also social impact in the local community.
While the Studio is difficult to confine into a box, there are three particular aspects that continue to stand out for me:
I was welcomed into an incredibly wide and diverse community of like-minded students: I loved being able to drop into the Studio to work on the Matariki Global Citizenship programme, and end up meeting a whole network of other students who also called the Studio home. The variety of programmes the Studio is able to bring together is incredibly special, as it allows others outside of the programme to help test ideas, provide feedback and support each other.
I was able to reflect and develop my own identity: Being a home for so many like-minded students, the Studio was where we would ask challenging questions about ourselves, our communities and the world around us. It was a safe space to explore and engage with new and old parts of my identity as a global citizen.
I had the opportunity to build tricky professional skills: I was incredibly lucky to be paid for the work I did on the Matariki Global Citizenship programme. My experiences of working with Sze-En, receiving feedback from her, seeing how she empowered me and provided support to others - were all key foundations to my own professional journey after University. They helped me become a more empathetic team member, and gave me a tangible understanding of what it looks like to be a Manager that is also a role model to others.
Since being in the Studio, I have worked as a public policy consultant in Melbourne, and now am about to begin a Masters in Geneva, Switzerland. As I begin this next chapter I have no doubt I will remember my experiences in the Studio fondly, and I can’t wait to see how it continues to grow as a special part of Otago.
Lots of love,
Bokyong