Reflecting on the First Year of the BWYS Young Persons’ EDI Champions Programme

The evening of June the 18^th 2025 was truly a fantastic one and will go down as an extremely proud moment for Be What You See, as it saw us bring our inaugural Young Persons’ EDI Champions Programme to a close!  

The awards event, hosted at Manchester Museum, was our chance to celebrate all the achievements and amazing work the Champions had completed within their schools throughout the academic year, whilst also giving them the opportunity to reflect on their own personal development journey since commencing the programme back in July of 2024. 

To celebrate, our Programmes Manager, Viv Richards, is reflecting on the first year:

Getting started… 

Thinking back to that first day and meeting all the Champions at the museum for the very first time, it’s so evident as to how much each of them have grown as people over the past year (not meant literally... although that is also true!).  

At that time, and understandably so, I remember the Champions being somewhat quiet and reserved. However, what I began to get a sense of throughout that day, was a real passion and willingness from them to want to be ambassadors at the forefront of promoting diversity and inclusion within their respective schools. 

Catherine and I came away from the Induction and Active Bystander sessions in July feeling extremely excited about the group of Champions, and we couldn’t wait for the first of their training themes to commence in the September! 

Anti-Racism 

Our Anti-Racism training was co-delivered in collaboration with the brilliant Natalie and Naomi Evans of Everyday Racism. The energy and enthusiasm from the young people in this subject area was amazing to see and they fully embraced the opportunity to be able to learn from experts within this space.  

Although the young people were inevitably having to explore, and discuss, some extremely difficult topics, it was an enjoyable day for everyone involved and it was evident how eager the Champions were to take this learning back in to school through the delivery of their Black History Month campaigns and Anti-Racism workshops.

LGBTQIA+ Inclusion

The second theme of the programme saw the Champions undertake training in LGBTQIA+ Inclusion. Our facilitator did an incredible job in making the topics easily accessible using really engaging activities, such as the LGBTQIA+ community flag matching, which all the Champions decided to take forward with them to use in their own LGTBQIA+ inclusion workshops. 

As part of their LGBTQIA+ training, the Champions were fortunate enough to be able to meet three ambassadors from the national LGBTQ+ charity, Just Like Us. The ambassadors delivered a talk about their experiences of growing up LGBTQ+ and what impact this had on their school life. This undoubtedly added an extra layer to the Champions understanding of being from the LGBTQIA+ community and how they could show allyship to their peers in school. 

Neurodiversity Inclusion 

Neurodiversity Inclusion was the final training theme of the programme, and it was fitting this should be delivered by Be What You See’s Founder and Company Director, Catherine Millan. From prior to Catherine launching the business in February 2022, one of her major goals for the company was to be investing in young people through the EDI Champions programme, so this was a great moment for her. 

Catherine is known for wanting to make her training as interactive as possible, which of course the Champions loved, and this approach really helped them to gain a better understanding of not only the challenges faced by those people who have Dyslexia, ADHD and/or Autism, but also the strengths that being neurodiverse can bring. 

Final thoughts… 

Three campaigns and many workshops later – the impact our nine Champions had on helping to build an inclusive culture within their respective schools cannot be underestimated! Through their hard work, they have supported awareness being raised during Black History Month, LGBT History Month and Neurodiversity Celebration Week, whilst also developing many of their peers understanding around Anti-Racist practice, LGBTQIA+ Inclusion and Neurodiversity Inclusion. 

We hope they will be the first of many EDI Champions within their own schools and beyond, as we aim to expand the programme in the coming years across Greater Manchester and the North West. If you think your school could be interested in working with us on the Young Persons’ EDI Champions programme, then please get in touch with our Programme Lead – viv.richards@bewhatyousee.co.uk 

I’d like to thank every member of the Be What You See Team for all your support, as well as Natalie and Naomi from EDR and the volunteers from JLU, in helping to bring such a successful programme together. I’d also like to show my appreciation to all the volunteers who supported us and inspired hundreds of pupils as part of the BWYS Series Q&A’s for Black History Month, LGBTQ History Month and Neurodiversity Celebration Week.

A huge thank you must also go out to Loreto High School, Oasis Academy Oldham and Oasis Academy Media City for choosing to work with us as part of the inaugural Young Persons’ EDI Champions Programme and the lead teachers who facilitated the Champions along their journey.  

Last but by no means least, I’d like to save the biggest thank you for our nine Champions. For having an open mind and willingness to learn, as well as all your contributions and hard work throughout the duration of the programme… it was a genuine pleasure to get to know each and everyone of you and you should be proud of what you have achieved!