Lead, impact, innovate: St Clare's, Oxford host 'Make Your Mark' conference

On Friday 2 February 2024, St Clare's, Oxford IB Diploma students hosted the ‘Make Your Mark’ conference to inspire the participants to create a positive impact on the world, in their unique way. Our guests included groups of students from Abbey College Cambridge, UWC Atlantic, St Edward’s School, Oxford and Wychwood School, Oxford. They all enjoyed an opening talk on leadership given by Jim Woodhill, one of our Governors, and also the workshops with St Clare’s alumni: Naomi Obeng, Madeleine Bonham Jones and Andrew Reece.

The students who organised the event said:

“Students from all different schools and varying backgrounds mingled and communicated. All appeared to be engaged by the keynote speaker: Jim Woodhill. His powerful words (and magic) captivated the audience. Furthermore, attending workshops regarding different disciplines allowed participants to be active whilst hearing the experiences of young people who have grown to be successful in their respective fields. One particular favourite moment of mine was watching groups, whilst wearing blindfolds, attempt to achieve a perfect square with a rope. The lesson? Communication is crucial.” – Asia

“The event itself focused on leadership, innovation and impacting the world in your own way. From the keynote speech, the conference was interactive and got students to move around and interact with people who they didn’t know. The conference gave the audience the possibility to keep interacting with the speakers, especially later during the event in the smaller groups and during the final workshop that challenged students to apply what they had learnt in the conference.” – Elisia

“I think that, in an ironic way, helping to create this leadership conference has itself taught me a lot about leadership. It’s often said that half of success is just showing up, and I think that was partially true here- we had a few moments of disappointment in the planning, and the conference easily could have not happened had we not persisted with it all the way through. But by being clear about what we wanted to do and carrying on with it to the end, we ended up with a success.” – Herbie

“The conference was very successful and speaking to people afterward it was clear that many new friendships had been formed and people were enjoying talking about what they had learned. It has left a solid base for future St Clare’s conferences and how we can inspire the younger generation to take action. Furthermore, I feel that we have taken one step further to creating a positive impact on the world around us.” – Toby

“I truly believe that everyone; organiser, participant, student, and staff left with an enlightened prospect of what it means to be a leader. I thoroughly enjoyed my day, and I hope that everyone who attended will carry the messages and ideas relayed with them wherever their life takes them.” – Ella

Would you like to find out more about the organisers and the speakers? Please visit the Make Your Mark website.