Dinner With Our Alumni: Azalea98

Hi everyone! I am here with yet another dinner with our alumni. This time, with none other than @Azalea98! For those that don't know, Dinner With Our Alumni is a series of small interviews with LDP graduates sharing their experience doing the program. The aim is to spread more awareness about the program and hopefully everyone gives it a read!

Today's interview is with @Azalea98! Azalea98 goes by Aza and is a teen listener on 7 Cups since May 2020. They have loved it since day one. If you have met them, you know they are very sociable and bubbly! And they love volunteering here as much as they love their cats! So fun fact, Aza has 5 cats. The girls are: Kiki, Coco, Silver and Sky and the boy is called Oreo. It was an absolute delight to interview them so here it goes!

What was on the menu? Macaroni Cheese and garlic bread!

What made you join the LDP?

I wanted to join because someone on the Teen Listener chat mentioned it and how they had managed to become a Chatroom Mod since joining the LDP and I thought it would be a great opportunity to get more involved in the community.

How was your experience doing the coursework?

If I’m being honest I’m not a very organised person so I found it difficult to consistently complete the course work week by week and ended up doing certain weeks (like the whole of week 4 in just 2 hours!). But I must say it was really informative and although it was hard to find the motivation to do it sometimes, I’m so glad I pushed through it all.

Did you find it easy to navigate through the forums for each course?

No at first! I was very new to the forums so it was scary and daunting. But I worked it out after a few days and contacted an LDP mentor, by the time I had finished the first week I got to grips with the layout and I didn't struggle after that at all.

How did you dedicate your time to doing the coursework?

I can’t say I had a schedule that I followed each week, I’m someone that works rather impulsively, so often I would find myself with bursts of energy that would allow me to do 3 or 4 posts at once or days where I wouldn’t do any. Although I did always find the motivation to complete the coursework by the end of the week.

Which course did you like the most? And why?

Definitely course 5, I loved all the booklets and the mini tests that gave immediate feedback that would allow you to track your own progress and see where you needed to improve.

What role did you get into after the program? How are you liking the role you got into for the LDP?

Wow, I mean I gained over 7 roles while in LDP believe it or not! I came into the program with 0 leadership roles and left as a Teen Star/Mentor. Although I love all my roles I got as a LDP trainee my favourite would have to be either a Chat supporter or a Peer supporter. Both roles I absolutely love and adore.

If you had to give one tip to the current trainees, what would that be?

Do the course at your own pace <3 It’s okay to be a little behind or ahead of your peers as long as you all reach the same destination point in the end. This program is meant to be fun not something to stress over.

What can we do to make the program better?

Putting the form you have to fill in weekly somewhere people can find it and wont forget about it! Maybe at the end of each coursework post, there’s a small reminder to fill in the form and a link to it.

Thank you for reading till here! Thank you so much for doing this, Aza, please give them a big shoutout!

I would love to hear any suggestions/question ideas that I can add to this series. If you are an LDP graduate and would love to contribute, please PM me so we can set up our dinner!

If you want to apply for the LDP, please click here.