Cambridge

March 23 2007, New Hall College

The Cambridge IFL conference was a great success with more than 100 gifted students from around Cambridgeshire inspired by the knowledge and passion of the 30 high energy facilitators and presenters representing the wide range of organisations and industries that support IFL.

From the stirring opening presentation by Tim Dracup, head of the Gifted and Talented Education unit at the DfES, to Billy Boyle’s inspirational closing talk the day was packed with exciting and engaging activities for Cambridgeshire’s brightest and best.

Workshops were very well received; they covered a wide range of interests and were designed to motivate the students and to help them see how their gifts and passions could be harnessed for success in the commercial environment. For example; Sagentia’s session on innovation was given our highest “Wow!” rating by 80% of those students who took part. The Sagentia team used hands on examples and creative thinking to help the delegates understand the essential nature of innovation and the challenges and excitement available to those working in this ever changing field.

“It was excellent to see how important innovation is in so many different industries, if you are really good at thinking creatively there are literally hundreds of opportunities to be a success out there, it really made you think.” Student Swavesey Village College

In addition to the inspirational workshops both teachers and students also had a chance to take a closer look at stress and how to handle it. John Hegarty, from Keele University’s psychology department, used case histories, exercises, demonstrations and research facts to introduce the key concepts of stress, how the students could measure their own levels and to learn some simple mind-body exercises for when stress gets too much.

Based on the evaluation and feedback from the students and teachers this first Inspiration for Life conference really was a success in that it met its primary objective of inspiring this important group of young people. Every student left Inspiration for Life having enjoyed the day and 80% left feeling inspired and motivated.

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