It’s hard to believe that another year has passed and here we are again spreading holiday cheer! 2023 didn’t just pass us by though, it was a year full of firsts, achievements and innovative progress. The year saw 4000 students across the island of Ireland learn new skills for life, changing our world for the better with the power of creative thinking. 32% of these were from DEIS schools and 152 were from Youthreach centres. We worked with 354 incredible mentors, 22 diverse partners and 6 dynamic universities who helped to empower our young people with their experience and unique outlook. Here are some of the highlights from a year that didn’t just pass us by but rocked our socks off, B!G Idea style!
Our top 12 best B!G moments of 2023 were:
B!G Numbers: We helped 4000 more students on to the road of success and development with our mission to democratise creativity.
Mega Mentors: We welcomed the engagement of 354 incredible Mentors who helped and supported our students and learners with their expertise, encouragement and enthusiasm.
B!G Winners: We won the Social Impact Award at the Irish Diversity in Tech Awards, an ICAD Silver bell and an award for Best Use of Technology at IDI Awards 2023.
OECD Praise: We were named in an OECD report for our work to promote creative thinking skills in formal education and as part of Ireland’s strategy to reduce the negative impact of student assessment regimes on the practice of creative thinking. This was a really B!G deal for us.
Our Hybrid Showcase: Our highlight every year is without a doubt the end-of-year Showcase. This year we welcomed 100 guests to an in-person watch party at Dogpatch Labs in Dublin including students, mentors, partners and supporters of The B!G Idea.
Creative Workshopping with Synge Street CBS: This year, for the first time, we introduced an exciting new element by welcoming students to join our Showcase. We invited a class from the nearby Synge Street CBS to participate in a workshop alongside some of this year’s B!G mentors where students had the opportunity to apply some of their newly acquired creative thinking skills to complete a Dragon’s Den style challenge.
The B!G Exhibition: Once again, we celebrated hundreds of incredible B!G Ideas in our student Exhibition online.
Accelerating Student Impact: This year’s student Accelerator was an incredible day where six standout student teams nurtured through The B!G Idea programme, had the amazing opportunity to be part of a one-day sprint guided by industry professionals.
European Project: We worked with education providers in Denmark, Greece, Italy and Croatia for our EU BANG project and KA2 EU project to help develop an open source learning framework for an EU community of educators and learners.
September Pilot: This year five classes from a school in Limerick have been working with a group of Mentors to test how the programme might run if it were to be rolled out from September to May instead of January to May.
B!G Bites: We introduced the concept of B!G Bites for the first time which is a series of lunchtime share and learn sessions for our Mentor community. In each session, we tackled a topic related to creative thinking with two of our amazing B!G Idea Mentors sharing their experiences and offering different approaches to problem solving.
Impact report: We completed our second impact report capturing The B!G Idea story and journey in one place. This was a huge piece of work for us and we are so proud of the outcome which we will share with you in the New Year.
Thank you for sharing this journey with us. We value each and every one of you for your contributions no matter how big or small. Wishing you a very Happy Christmas and we’re excited already about what 2024 will bring.
