Pursing Individual Excellence (also known as PIE) teamed up with Community Computers to provide Evie, a young person on their team, with a MacBook.
We sat down with Evie, Beth, founder of PIE, and Adrian, Community Computer’s Business Manager, to find out how PIE and Community Computers have impacted Evie’s life.
Evie was in a bad place when she was introduced to PIE in 2023; she had just left secondary school and hadn’t got the grades needed to study politics at her chosen college. Evie was devastated and remembers tearfully telling her parents that her life was ruined.
Quickly, she realised that her college timetable was starkly different to a secondary school timetable, where every hour of her was accounted for. All the changes left her in shock and her mental health began to suffer. Evie bravely accepted that being in a classroom wasn’t how she learnt best, and that leaving college would be the best choice for her.
Suddenly, Evie had lots of spare time and there was something about PIE that she gravitated towards. Beth recalls Evie popping into the office to find out how she could help. It was her eagerness to help that led her to become more and more involved in the planning and delivery of projects, first on a voluntary basis and then as a paid member of staff. PIE gave Evie a safe space to rebuild her confidence and know that although her plans had changed, she could still have a bright future.
Each of PIE’s programmes focus on 5 key areas, one being ‘cultural capital’ where participants are given a range of opportunities that are outside their sphere of experience. This was true for Evie: before joining PIE she wasn’t very confident, but now she has spoken in front of 200 people at PIE’s annual Youth Summit. She has discovered that she loves helping young people find their voice, and wants to empower them the way PIE has empowered her. Evie’s so passionate that she wants to take this overseas, and will hopefully be working with young people in America this summer.
Since 2018, Pursuing Individual Excellence has been getting our young people future ready. What that future will look like is hard to say, as technology, the economy and lifestyles are changing every day, but PIE believe that as long as students are flexible, resilient, confident and skilled, they will be alright.
The enterprise began from Beth’s experiences as an English teacher, working with pupils who were disaffected, disadvantaged and disempowered. Most of the team are ex-teachers or have school experience, so they have unique insight into how young people can struggle in a school setting. For Beth, PIE isn’t about raising young people’s aspirations – when you get talking to them, you quickly realise that they have high aspirations – instead, PIE is about equipping young people with the skills they need to achieve the future that they want.
Through partnerships with organisations like Community Computers, they can improve young people’s communication, digital and project management skills, and to support them in their ideas for community action. Evie has been improving her digital skills by running the L!STEN Youth Alliance (a PIE program) Instagram account. She creates content that shares the social actions initiatives started by pupils on PIE programmes. She’d like to continue doing this in the future, so having a MacBook has allowed her to learn skills that are standard in the social media industry.
Adrian, from Community Computers, was pleased to catch up with Evie and see how the MacBook has benefited her.
In 2024, Community Computers provided over 1,100 devices across Greater Manchester in an effort to reduce the digital divide. The majority of our lives are spent online, including homework and lessons, so having an inadequate digital device can result in poor future outcomes.
PIE and Community Computers are working hard to make sure that this isn’t the case, with PIE trialling two new projects in partnership with the Violence Reduction Unit.
If you would like find out more and support the work of both agencies, you can find links to their websites below.
