September has now arrived, which means many of our US and UK presenters, both old and new, are now headed back into classrooms for the new school year. And with a load of awesome new presenters onboarded and ready to #helpthekids, it's set up to be a good one.
With term 3 ticking away in Aus and South Africa, students are starting to feel the pressure mounting as exams creep closer...luckily, our amazing team of coaches and presenters have been helping them get some bulletproof strategies in place to get them prepared for the exam period ahead. As a result, we've got some very grateful teachers, parents and students. Have a read of what they have to say in this month's Notes from HQ round-up!
Team Aus
The Aus team are bracing themselves for one of the busiest times of the year as exams inch closer. With some big days of sems taking place, our presenters have been unwinding with some wholesome board game nights, boxing matches, and laser tag.
Check out some great Slack posts of all of the above in the team Slack Channel highlights, but first, let's celebrate our standout performers for August!
Aus Presenter of the Month
Charlotte
Aus Presenter of the Month is Charlotte, from Team NSW!
Charlotte smashed August with 98.9% stats and a teacher feedback score of 9.2 across 14 sems! Great going.
Here's what Charlotte enjoys most about presenting:
"What I enjoy most about presenting is the fact that it is the most challenging and rewarding part of my week. Every day you have to work hard to connect with the students and try to help them. However, it is all made worth it by the smiles and ‘thank yous’ you receive at the end of a sem and walking away knowing you made an impact."
Standout Presenter Feedback
Nandana
"Nandana was an excellent presenter today and was very clear in her delivery. She did a great job in condensing the content into our shorter timeframe without compromising the important information shared."
Sophie & Christine
"Sophie and Christine both excelled at their presentations. Sophie was quick to pick up on students who might otherwise disengage and fold them back in without them feeling singled-out. This was skilful."
Oscar
"Oscar did a great job delivering the session. He was able to engage the students well and made the information personal to the kids."
Aus Coach of the Month
Amy
Amy has been recognised by the team for her dedication to helping the kids across August, and for always giving her all when it comes to her coaching sessions. Amy pays close attention to what makes her students tick, helping her to connect and relate to them, and have a real impact on their academic confidence.
Here's what Amy loves most about coaching with Elevate:
"Being an Elevate coach has given me the amazing opportunity to make a real difference in students’ lives. It’s so rewarding to help students find their full potential and the confidence that comes with it. I love getting to know my students and their parents, and having fun whilst we achieve goals. It’s also great to have a job that fits so well with my university lifestyle!"
Awesome job Amy! Thanks for your insight into the coaching role!
Standout Coaching Feedback
Eleanor
"Eleanor was lovely! She had a great rapport with my daughter and is a bright, mature insightful young lady. She was positive, always listened and had great feedback."
George
"George was really excellent, was great with him last week. He was very impressive. George is great, very clear in his communication."
Tom
"Went really well. Tom was great, genuinely nice guy. Knew his stuff, very articulate."
Slack Channel Highlights
Team WA
From Team WA's Slack channel, we have: A photo from Annika, after she, Jake and Bhakti went boxing together; another post from Annika paying homage to Jake's dance moves (suspiciously similar to those of a certain Australian breakdancer); a farewell post from Taniya after her final sem (best of luck, Taniya!); and a group car pic from Jade.
Team VIC
Team Vic has been busy sharing: A snap from Kristie of her, Brendan and Isaac enjoying a post-sem sandwich; A post celebrating Georgia's first sem from Velentina; a wonderful student portrait of Emma, shared by Nelson; and a photo of a wholesome team board game night shared by Nandana.
Team NSW
Our presenters in NSW have been Slackin' about: Wesley's final sem before he jets off on his adventures to America; a photo shared by Aakanksha with a gift from a very generous school for presenting; a post from Jono, Aus Recruitment Coordinator, of his time in NSW with the team; and a first sem post from Alannah; a very mindful, very demure, team selfie from Raina; and finally, a video from Ella, revealing the difficulties that here, Victoria, Andrew, Emilie and Will encountered, trying to spell 'Bosco'. We love the commitment, team.
Team QLD
From Team QLD we have: A first sem post from Emma; A photo from Simeon of his trip to Noosa with Isaac and Abigail; a very scenic lunch spot shared by Kiara, featuring Abigail; an awesome selfie from Alana from the UQ science fair, where the team were looking to recruit some amazing new Connect presenters; and a photo from Isaac of a team game of laser tag. Thanks all for sharing!
Team South Africa
Our team of South African presenters and coaches have had a big impact across the country in August, delivering both school and government-funded sessions through the CSI programme.
As always, we've got some standout performers to recognise...
South African Presenter of the Month
Anesu
It's Anesu who's earned the title of South African Presenter of the Month for August! Anesu has recently become a senior presenter, and with 98% stats and a 9.5 teacher score across 12 sems last month, that comes as no surprise.
We asked Anseu to reflect on what his highlights and learnings from August were:
"August was an interesting month filled with many sessions and thus many opportunities to keep growing as a presenter. My advice going forward to presenters is to try to take something out of each seminar you do. Each seminar and class you present to is unique, so learning from each one will help you become a better presenter as you will be able to lean on your experiences in future sessions and be prepared for any situation that might arise!"
Wise words, Anesu! Thank you for your commitment to making a difference.
Standout Presenter Feedback
Kayla
"The lady who presented was well prepared, very energetic, and the Gr 7's say it was the best so far. Thank you!"
Candice
"Candice is entertaining, professional and knowledgeable."
South African Coach of the Month
Logan
Securing South African Coach of the Month for August, is Logan, who has taken this new role by storm with an average feedback score of 9/10 and only fantastic feedback from his students!
Read some examples of this feedback below:
"Logan has explained everything in such a straight forward way that I doubt I will forget what he's taught me."
"I liked how energetic the coach was😁"
"This task really helps me with processing what I read better."
Logan shared with us some of the skills coaching has helped him to develop:
"Coaching has helped me to appreciate the unique potential of each student that I work with. They all have different personalities, interests and outlooks on life, and this is so refreshing to experience! I am grateful that we can play such an important role in shaping and furthering the academic improvement of each learner on their life journey. You never know when you'll be helping the next famous astronaut/musician/doctor."
It's great to see what an impact you're having, Logan; thank you for giving it your all last month!
Team Photos
CSI Sessions
School Sessions
Team UK
Over in the UK, students have been heading back into classrooms from last week, which means the long summer break for our presenters is now over.
Unlike our friends over in the US, UK schools don't tend to run summer schools, which means we don't have a UK Presenter of the Month for August or any Slack channel highlights - these will be back in the next update. However, we do still have a UK Coach of the Month to celebrate and some awesome coaching feedback to share.
UK Coach of the Month
Laurence
Congrats, Laurence! You're our UK Coach of the Month! The team has enjoyed working with you across August as much as your students have enjoyed your sessions. The consistency and quality of your coaching deserves a huge pat on the back.
We asked Laurence what his favourite part of coaching is:
"My favourite thing about coaching is the first discreet smile of a student who swore to themselves that they were not going to engage with or enjoy coaching upon realising that actually, this might be kind of fun!!"
And fun they find it indeed, Laurence! Awesome work. Here's some feedback from students and parents last month:
"It's clear Laurence really knows his stuff inside and out"
"Thank you for my session today, really fun"
Standout Coach (& Presenter!) Feedback
David
"Our son is so excited to start up again with David this month. We'll make sure we're free for him once his schedule is sorted"
Morgan
"Thank you for our first session yesterday. Morgan is fantastic" (Morgan's first-ever session!!)
Tiana
"Tiana is so friendly and lovely, she really cares about the programme and making it work for us"
Rosalie
"We are so enjoying our sessions with Rosalie, thank you so much"
Annabelle and Paul (first ever session!)
"It was really really good! Bless the presenters, they were wonderful. There was positive feedback all around, I'm really pleased. Your presenters had such great rapport, both did so so well with the students. Great punctuality from them too, they were there nice and early, made this easier for us. A really quiet student that I don't speak to much went out of his way to to say to me "miss I found that really really useful" so that's such a testament."
Team US
The new school year also kicked off in the US last week, with students heading back through the school gates on Thursday, meaning all systems are go for the team this month.
And although our US presenters also put in the hours over Summer, August was definitely a little quieter. This means we have less feedback than usual and no Slack channel highlights to share, but please do join us in celebrating our US Presenter of the Month for August.
US Presenter of the Month
Hailie
Hailie has killed it in August, getting 98.4% stats across 10 sems - pretty amazing stuff. Her ability to connect with students and get them on board with what's covered in the seminars is recognised in the consistently great feedback she gets for her workshops.
We asked Hailie what kind of skills presenting has helped her to develop:
"As far as skills go, presenting has definitely helped me be able to really efficiently and effectively read the room. It’s allowed me to be extremely adaptable in working with and using the energy of the room to be able to effectively engage groups!"
Outstanding effort, Hailie! Thank you for your hard work!
And that's another Notes from HQ update over and out. From this month, all four of our global locations will be in full swing, so expect a jam-packed recap next time - we'll see you then!
If you haven't already, make sure you check out our video interview with JV, our Chief Operating Officer, and our team shoutouts for August.
Comments