Bakoto began attending our original club at Barton Hill Settlement in 2016. She progressed quickly through our projects and ended up coding in Python before her studies meant she had to step away from weekly club attendance. Through her connections at DigiLocal she secured a work placement with a local Bristol technology firm and went on to study Cyber Security at University.
Bakoto was invited to join DigiLocal as a trustee to benefit from her personal experience as a club attendee, a woman, and a person of colour. It is a major decision to be a charity Trustee and we wanted to know why she accepted the invitation
I am a trustee because I believe it’s a great opportunity for me as a young person who can relate to young people.
Being a trustee for DigiLocal is great as their aim is to assist people from disadvantaged backgrounds, POC/Black.
For DigiLocal to be able to give the opportunity to them is a great thing
We are hugely grateful for the knowledge and experiences that our Trustee bring to the DigiLocal. We also see being a Trustee as an opportunity for individuals to grow and extend their expertise, and to gain new experiences. We were interested in what Bakoto had gained from being a Trustee (for the avoidance of doubt, all Trustees at DigiLocal are unpaid and receive no financial benefit from their Trusteeship).
There are a number of reasons of what i get out of being a trustee,
The first reason is connecting with other younger trustees. By inputting ideas for the club and listening to other people’s ideas, we are able to make something great for the young people.
Being able to work and assist with other communities is what I also get out of being a trustee.
An example of this is sending out laptops to young people during the pandemic.
As an attendee at DigiLocal, Bakoto completed all our projects along with participating a many special events. Trying new challenges, in a safe environment, is a key part of DigiLocal supporting young young people to achieve their potential. We were interested in which challenges Bakoto remembered in particular.
For me, it was transitioning from scratch to python. This was a good challenge as it developed my skills in the end and was helpful while working on coding for my university course.
DigiLocal doesn’t have a formal curriculum for young people to follow. We focus on developing problem solving skills and building resilience through our fun and challenging projects. Obviously, we hope that young people are learning, and we wanted to know what Bakoto thought she had learned from her time as an attendee with DigiLocal.
I have learned so much!
For example, I have learned to network and therefore find job opportunities and work experience.
This has helped me develop my career and has a clear idea on what field to specialise in the future.
Another example is that I have learned how to programme.
We are honoured to have Bakoto as a Trustee and wanted to hear a little about her future plans post-DigiLocal.
Following from the previous question, I would like to get into the cyber security field, in particular online safety/e-safety. I would like to help people to protect themselves online.