We planned for eight students a workshop. Then we added 40 places
The first full day at Harris City Academy Crystal Palace set the pattern: keynotes, an alumni panel, workshops and a prize fund the mentors gave away.
On 6 February 2026, Empowered Voices held its first full-day school event at Harris City Academy Crystal Palace, free to the school, with lunch for every workshop student and mentor.
The keynotes included the Head of Generative AI at a global investment bank and a startup founder who had worked at Google and Bloomberg. The alumni panel ranged from doctors to data scientists and spoken word artists.
Each workshop was planned for eight students. Interest ran so far beyond that we added 40 places across the workshops rather than turn anyone away. The limit was capacity, not appetite.
Mentors had been offered up to £80 towards travel and lunch. Many gave it to students instead, as cash prizes for engagement. Thomas won an award for pitching his shoe-cleaning business, used it to buy equipment, and has since asked us to mentor him. “Presenting in front of others pushed me outside my comfort zone,” he said, “and showed how confidence grows when young people are given the right support and platform.”
The limit was capacity, not appetite.
Gift, Year 12, put it another way: “I felt heard as a young individual with parents who aren’t that well off. It made me believe that there is something worth working hard for.”
The Faculty Director of Sixth Form called it “without a doubt, one of the most inspirational events I have been a part of in the last decade of teaching”.