Insight Project will be publishing a series of blogs over the coming weeks. The first week's blogs focus on the motivations and experiences of its team.
This blog is written by Dibjeet Kaur, Insight Project Team Member
Abstract: Joining the Pro bono Society for the first time in a lockdown has been abnormal. But we have successfully been able to bring this project and society to life! Find out more about how Pro bono has helped me interact and get involved in group activities during a pandemic!
My experience as being a part of the Pro Bono Society has been very insightful. Since the moment I have joined, everyone has been really welcoming, friendly and supportive. Being a part of this society has provided me an opportunity to engage with other like-minded people who also want to contribute and work together for the various projects. Due to the unusual circumstances of the world-wide pandemic, the society has majorly run online, yet still been a great experience overall.
I am an Insight Project Team Member and I have helped create presentations and activities for a school that needed our help. We focussed on preparing and presenting an hour-long interactive zoom presentation about The Crown Court and Criminal Trials. Being able to present to the students, who had no prior legal knowledge, over zoom was rewarding. Participating in meetings and research prior to the presentation was also a meaningful experience where we had to use creative ways in order to ensure the lesson met the criteria we were given and that it could be successfully ran online rather than face-to-face. We had to ensure it would remain interactive and engaging for the students and a Christmas themed quiz was a great way to do this as the lesson was presented just before the Christmas Holidays.
Being a member of The Insight Project in the Pro Bono Society has given me the opportunity to present, research, interact, and work as a team and independently. Although the circumstances have been abnormal this year as the society has not been able to meet at the University, we have still managed to make use of all the online resources available to us and have still successfully managed to bring the projects and society to life. By using Whatsapp, Zoom, Microsoft Teams and Emails the society has had chances to interact, attend and get involved in the group activities.
As a first-year undergraduate student at the University of Leicester, not being able to go to the University campus as usual and interact with other students or attend societies in person has created a quite isolated feeling for the start of my course and experience. However, the Pro Bono Society has provided a support network of people that are all in similar situations, who are able to interact and work together eliminating this seclusion.
I look forward to the new projects and activities we have for the upcoming academic year.