Two ceremonies were held in a blended remote/in-person format to mark the end of the year for the young beneficiaries of the Cordées de la Réussite programme, including PHARES, which was managed by students from the Prépa’Rémois association at NEOMA’s Reims campus.

The programme’s partners and funders also participated remotely: the Academy rector, ANCT, the Reims, Epernay and Vitry-le-François town halls, the Crédit Agricole Foundation and the Fédé 100% association.

Pascal Choquet, Director of the Reims Campus, and Céline Articlaut, head of the Diversity Mission, represented NEOMA.

Mr Choquet opened the ceremonies by saying that the support offered by the programme fully reflected NEOMA’s equal-opportunity values. He also thanked the tutoring students for assisting, advising, instructing and often providing moral support to the beneficiaries throughout the year, helping them to make progress.

Headed for higher education!

On 16 April, the 21 young people from PHARES, the Cordée de la Réussite programme dedicated to supporting disabled youth in their higher education goals, got together both in person and online, to finish the year with their families, their tutors at Prépa’Rémois, NEOMA employees and former members of Cordée de la Réussite.

The young people worked on a pedagogic and cultural travel project where they presented its programme and budget that could materialise next year with a trip to Lyon.

The ceremony featured young people currently enrolled in higher education sharing their experiences to show those being tutored all that they can accomplish!

On 5 May, 26 young people celebrated in their final year of secondary school, who for the most part have been involved in the Cordées de la Réussite programme since the third year. These students, their tutors at Prépa’Rémois, the head teachers and contacts from Cordées, teachers and assistant principals got together with NEOMA’s 4 partner secondary schools: François Arago and Joliot-Curie schools in Reims, Stéphane Hessel in Epernay and François 1^er in Vitry-le-François.

The secondary school students looked back on their experiences in Cordées de la Réussite, with two of those experiences standing out in particular: the social entrepreneurship workshop, headed by the Enactus Reims student society, and the UN simulation, a form of the Night at the UN event.

They also shared their higher education plans, demonstrating the positive purpose behind Cordées de la Réussite. Students, who just a few years ago couldn’t imagine pursuing higher studies, mentioned political science entrance exams as well as IT and marketing technical programmes as examples of what the programme helped them to access.

A historic Cordée de la Réussite

Former presidents and tutors from Prépa’Rémois show interest in attending and said a few brief words to show how this experience affected them and continues to do so today in their professional careers. “What really drove me to start this was that it was a new inspiring initiative in Reims. There was a real need for it in the region. As a tutor, we did not just help the youth in the programme, but also learned a lot about ourselves. The start of the programme had a big affect on me. In fact, we had no financing and went out on the tram looking to meet young people at secondary school or at their homes. In the years after that, we had more resources and the outings and trips were easier to organise.” Marine de Biaisi said, a MiM graduate and one of the first 3 PHARES tutors in 2013.

Ms Baudoin, technical advisor for the rector, director of SAIO and assistant to the Grand Est DRAIO, said, “NEOMA was a historic step for Cordées de la Réussite, well established in the academy, which was able to find ways to make the programme work despite the period and is still able to continue to support it with a lot of energy.”