For the 2021–2022 academic year, the OPTIM Success Network includes 70 Arts et Métiers students Arts et Métiers Grande Ecole Engineering Programme the Cluny campus. They mentor more than 80 students and provide weekly tutoring for the five secondary schools in the network (the Robert Schuman and Saint-Exupéry middle schools in Mâcon, En Fleurette in Saint-Gengoux-le-National, Saint-Cyr in Matour, and La Prat’s High School in Cluny), representing 200 middle and high school students.
A look back at the 2020-2021 academic year for the OPTIM Success Team with Isabelle Duband, teacher at the Cluny campus and equal opportunities and gender diversity officer.
In 2020-2021, 52 students from the Arts et Métiers campus Arts et Métiers Cluny mentored 45 ninth-grade students from Saint-Cyr (Matour) and Saint-Exupéry (Mâcon) middle schools, as well as 25 students from La Prat’s high school (Cluny).
Tutoring sessions were provided remotely for high school students.
Outside of lockdown periods, students were able to attend middle schools.
Despite the complexity of the health situation, the tutors maintained their volunteer commitment to young people from modest backgrounds throughout the school year. The three students in charge were particularly responsive and did a great job of bringing everyone together, emphasizes Isabelle Duband, leader of the OPTIM team.
Halfway through the school year, the OPTIM success network welcomed two new partners: Robert Schuman Middle School in Mâcon, part of the REP (Priority Education Network), and En Fleurette Middle School in Saint-Gengoux-le-National, located in a rural area. This expansion of the program is part of the national education recovery plan.
The OPTIM program organizes one-off activities: visits to training centers, meetings with students, outings aimed at social and cultural integration, etc.
In March 2021, the testimonial video "They chose technology" was finalized. This project took a year to complete, and the video was used to support several OPTIM initiatives.
Another new feature of the 2020-2021 OPTIM year is the establishment of a steering committee for the entire team. This steering committee met twice, in January 2021 remotely via Teams and in July 2021 in person on the Cluny Campus. This group brings together representatives from the local education authority, the prefect's urban policy delegate (Chalon/Saône and Mâcon sector), the head of the equal opportunities and access to employment department of the Saône-et-Loire department, the REP coordinator of Mâcon, as well as school principals, OPTIM advisors, and national education psychologists from partner middle and high schools.
I would like to express my sincere gratitude to everyone involved in the 2020-2021 OPTIM program, who have worked tirelessly and passionately to open up new opportunities for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds!concludes Isabelle Duband.
OPTIM Student Leaders 2020-2021
