Despite the coronavirus outbreak, the Godolphin Flying Start program continues remotely, with the majority of the participants logging in from their homes all over the world.
“Most of the trainees have returned to their home countries in Australasia, Europe, the USA and Japan and they have shown their maturity and resilience in coping with the change in their learning environment,” said Clodagh Kavanagh, executive director of GFS. “We are using technology to build our online community, stay engaged and deliver meaningful learning experiences as well as challenging assignments to the first and second trainees for the foreseeable future.
She added, “The challenge has caused us to innovate and to discover new ways of doing things, some of which we intend to build on along with our traditional methods. Most importantly, the trainees and the Flying Start team are in good health and are adhering the best-practice health protocols in their local areas at the moment.”
Second-year trainee Annise Montplasir recently returned home from Dubai.
“I will be isolating at my home near Fargo, North Dakota,” she said. “Completing Godolphin Flying Start remotely will be a unique learning experience of integrating new technologies into our lives that we can apply in future careers. Today's world is large and small all at once, which is amazing. In addition to coursework, the bulk of which is our University College Dublin Entrepreneurship module and Business Plan assignment, I will spend my time at home writing and blogging, and developing a new non-profit.”
Victoria Canessa is a first-year trainee from Argentina and is riding out the coronavirus storm in Lexington.
“With today's technology, it is so easy to stay connected with everyone across the globe and it will be our means of communication until the end of the USA phase, as we continue to move forward with Godolphin Flying Start. This clearly involves great team effort, commitment, and support from all of those involved in the scholarship, providing us with different assignments, the USA conference, as well as video lectures and online material which will allow us to successfully continue with the remainder of this phase.”
Godolphin Flying Start is a two-year, full-time Management and Leadership training programme that specializes in the international Thoroughbred racing and breeding industry. For more information, please visit www.godolphinflyingstart.com.
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