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Empowering Future Innovators: Inside Future Focus21c’s Peer Internship Programme

Writer's picture: AdminAdmin

Updated: Feb 4

Image Credits: FF21c, 2023, 2024


At Future Focus21c, we believe that mentorship is a powerful tool for learning, leadership, and innovation. Our paid peer internship programme offers young people the opportunity to step into leadership roles. This year, Sofiia and Kostya, our first peer interns from Coláiste na Sceilge, took on the role of peer mentors, supporting First Lego League teams as they explored robotics, coding, and innovation projects. From coaching participants through teamwork challenges to fostering problem-solving skills, their journey as mentors has been both rewarding and transformative. We sat down with them to hear their reflections on leadership, teamwork, and the impact of the programme on their personal growth.


Image Credits: FF21c, 2023, 2024


Can you start by telling us a little bit about yourself?

S: Hello, sure! My name is Sofiia, I’m 16 and I am currently a 5th year student at Coláiste na Sceilge. I'm passionate about teaching and volunteer as a tutor to help Ukrainian children learn English and run an online speaking club for teenage girls. 


K: Hello, my name is Kostya. I'm 16 and studying in Kerry at the moment. All my life I've been really into tech and innovation, always striving to be the best at what I do.


Image Credits: FF21c, 2023, 2024


In your own words, can you describe your peer internship?

S: Help our mentors to prepare teams for the FLL regional competition and do our best to guide members to explore and express their own strengths through innovation projects, robot building & coding, and team building activities. As a peer intern, I help our mentors to plan weekly sessions by creating some of the activities and leading team members through them during the sessions. sharing my experience of FLL to help teams do their best and make the most out of this FLL experience. 


K: My peer internship is great, it's not too demanding to be conflicting with school and it is fun. 


Why did you decide to take on a peer internship role with Future Focus21c as mentors for First Lego League?

S: When my last year mentor offered me to take on a peer internship role I was quite surprised as I didn’t know that peer internship role with Future Focus21c as mentor for FLL. But I decided to take the role to challenge myself and try out some unfamiliar skills that I now realise the importance of, like leadership and . This was also a chance for me to use my last year’s experience and insights as one of the team members to help others do their best. And at the end of a day even as a peer mentor you can enjoy the atmosphere of FLL sessions and have fun while facilitating :) 


K: I've participated in FLL for almost a decade now and worked with Future Focus21c in the past year. Unfortunately I've grown too old to be a participant so I decided to take the challenge on from a different angle.


Can you tell us about your overall experience so far as a peer mentor for First Lego League?

S: My overall experience as a peer mentor is going great so far and I’ve learnt a lot and practiced many skills over the last few months. I got to try new opportunities to step out of my comfort zone by leading some activities and guiding teams to develop their innovation projects. I see myself improving on these through feedback from mentors and reflection too 

K: Overall experience is great so far, working with new and familiar faces alike at something I am passionate about never gets boring. I love the feeling of being useful and helping others.


What are some memorable moments for you?

K: There hasn't been any moments that I would call memorable yet, but I'm sure the competition that's in a couple of weeks will be one of them


Image Credits: FF21c, 2023, 2024


What specific skills, such as teamwork, communication, or technical knowledge, have you developed through this experience?

S: One of the most memorable moments was during the session where my responsibility was to help team members brainstorm and develop their ideas for solutions on how to solve various problems affecting the ocean. One of the participants got really passionate about his idea of technology that would help to filter ocean water and get rid of chemicals polluting it and he drew a diagram and wrote about his solution in great detail. Later on, we asked members to introduce their ideas to us to form the teams, and saw many participants being passionate about ideas they created. Seeing them genuinely interested in problems they are solving and excited to develop their solutions was really memorable for me 


K: This experience really helped me to work on my communication and team working skills. With so many people, each one requiring their own approach really challenges you to adapt to each and every single one of them.


Can you share an example of a moment where you felt you have made a positive impact on the participants you are coaching? 

S: The moment that I've felt that I made a positive impact on participants was when I developed an activity during the first few sessions. Our teams had not been formed yet, and participants had to gain a deeper understanding of this year’s project’s challenge - “Submerged” and the problems faced by the ocean. I suggested creating a mind map with prepared keywords on it that outlined main threats concerning the ocean, so that the participants could use those as starters for their research. The mind map collected all of the facts and detailed info the participants had gathered during this research, which I think helped participants to find problems they were passionate about. It has helped us to establish teams based on their interest in particular ocean problems all jotted down on the collective brainstorm / mind map haha. So looking back, I’m glad that this had a positive impact on participants’ progress for the Innovation project. 


K: I am working with some participants who are new to robotics as a concept, at the start I saw them be unsure at what to do, but I know they are creative and with a bit of practice would really take off. I worked with them, helping and supporting them, and while take off may have been slow at first, they've grown more confident and are now just flying through  the missions.


What has been the most challenging aspect of mentoring? Why have you found it challenging? How are you working on overcoming it?

S: Some of the most challenging aspect of mentoring that I found was taking up a leadership role. While it is the most essential part of mentoring, it is not the skill that I had practiced a lot, especially with a large group where a guided approach is needed! Sometimes it was challenging for me to be heard among a loud excited group haha or make sure everyone was involved or guide participants through some of the activities. 


While I am working on it, I realised that the key factor towards overcoming it was just simply practice and learn from my mistakes and insights the feedback my mentors share with me. I tend to observe how our mentors lead and navigate the sessions and this helps to boost my confidence and deepen my knowledge about leadership 


K: Although it's been a smooth sail so far, one aspect of being able to deliver my thoughts in a way that others can understand challenged me a bit. Having so many ears hone in on you and interpret your words in different ways requires you to think about how you are going to say stuff. As with all things it was hard at first but has gotten easier as I now know the participants and know how they interpret my words. Best strategy I found so far is telling everyone general stuff and then to go to each group individually and explain what I meant in a more clarifying way.


How do you think participating in the First LEGO League helps young people develop essential life skills?

S: I think that the structure of FLL is what greatly influences what skills young people develop. As FLL is divided into three parts including robot game & design, innovation project and core values, each introduces them to a new and diverse range of skills. While coding may be one skill practiced when working on robots and the skill of research used when developing the innovation project, essential life skills such as communication, critical and creative thinking skills are constantly being practiced during every activity of FLL. But the best part are the unique hands-on activities that constantly push participants to practice these skills and learn through action, which I think makes learning much more memorable, fun and valuable 


K: First Lego League allows young people to experience working on a project in a team, helps them manage time and divide responsibilities. It also helps them to deal with stress that some may experience on a competition day. As we all know if you are in a team of reliable and competent people, whatever you are working on will be done to the highest standard. FLL provides an opportunity to become that competent, hardworking, creative person who gets things done, a person on whom others can rely.


What do you believe are the most valuable lessons for participants from this program?

S: discovering new - whether it's a coding skill, increased awareness of global issues or developing something new - I believe FLL program is all about developing new skills and knowledge, as well as discovering something new about themselves. While in this program you do have to complete some work, diverse activities and flexible structure allows them to explore their own interests and strengths through creating solutions for innovation projects or discovering a perfect role for themselves when working on a robot. I believe that this is very valuable for their self-discovery and finding what they are passionate about. 


K: Most valuable lessons are to keep procrastination to a minimum, to integrate your’s and your team’s goals and work together, to manage time properly. And of course to find something you enjoy doing and put your 100% into that.


You both took part in FLL as participants; how do you think it helped you as mentors?

S: Taking part in FLL for the first time last year was vital for me to understand how everything is from the participants’ perspective. It gave me deeper insights into how I can help teams and not just guide them to prepare their project for competition but share experiences and mistakes from last year to improve their FLL experience. Also, as we have many participants who already took part in FLL last year, working with them and just observing how everyone was doing during last year helped me to understand their strengths and how we can balance and guide teams based on their dynamics so that everyone has the best experience. 


K: Taking part in FLL helps me as a mentor to connect better to the participants. I know what needs to be done not from an outdated book, but from first hand experience. This allows me to coordinate better and to guide them along the path that would lead them to victory.


In what ways has this internship influenced how you look at leadership or teaching others?

S: One of the surprising things that I found for myself is that you certainly don’t have to be an expert to be a leader. This was one of my insecurities once I started the internship as I thought I’m not experienced enough and don’t have all of the necessary knowledge to try myself as a peer mentor. Yet now I believe that that’s exactly what the internship is for - to gain the experience and learn from mentors and participants too. Also, my previous experiences of teaching others (being a tutor) required a certain system of teaching like giving the material to students and then just reviewing it. However, during this internship most of the learning process was obviously supported by hands-on activities and discovery learning which enhanced my understanding of the teaching process and that it can be done in many different ways, regardless of learning material. 


K: It showed me that leading a project and teaching others is not as easy as it looks at the time, it requires careful thought and quick actions to allow all the gears to mesh perfectly.


What advice would you give to future mentors or interns joining the program to ensure a positive and impactful experience?

S: I think that the most important aspect of mentoring is understanding the participants’ perspective, their needs and interests. FLL is a very diverse program in which participants, even while working in the team, can find a niche role that they enjoy and help them to develop their strengths. So my advice to future mentors and interns would be to do their best to communicate with the participants to understand their interests and help them find a role that would help them get the most out of the FLL experience! 


K: Make sure you present yourself, and information you have confidently and precisely. This way no matter what you have to say, others will listen and follow. Don't overwork yourself trying to explain something to someone, instead explain the general thought and let the participants work out the specifics in their own and unique way. This will lead to better experience and performance as a whole for everyone.


The regional finals are on the 7th March; what are your top tips for the teams as they prepare?

S: My top tip for teams would be to try to balance the effort you put in the innovation project and robot. Working on your innovation project and robot at the same time can get a bit demanding, so make sure your team doesn’t get behind on one or the other. Even if your team members have specific roles in the team, make sure that each member is informed about what the team is doing. Every team member can have great ideas to add to improve your work, so your team should do their best to listen to each other in order to do your best! 


K: Make sure you have a plan, be confident in yourself and your work, and support each other. It's not just you there, but your whole team.


Do you have anything else to add?

K: Work hard but don't forget to have fun.


As the regional finals approach, Sofiia and Kostya’s journey as peer mentors highlights the power of learning through leadership. Their experiences have not only helped FLL participants grow in confidence, creativity, and teamwork but have also shaped their own perspectives on leadership, problem-solving, and collaboration. By stepping into mentorship roles, they’ve discovered that guiding others is as much about listening and adapting as it is about teaching.


For future mentors and interns, their advice is clear: embrace the challenge, trust the process, and support your team. Whether it's fostering innovation, encouraging new ideas, or simply creating a positive learning environment, the impact of peer mentorship goes far beyond the competition itself. As they continue their journey with Future Focus21c, Sofiia and Kostya’s reflections remind us that true leadership is about empowering others to succeed—one challenge, one idea, and one team at a time.



The Future is Now.


It is time to prepare ALL today's learners for today’s world.



Photo credits: Olha Burdo, Anita McKeown, Sofiia Oliinyk, Rebecca White & Konstantin Yeromin


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