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EQUEST Mentoring Programme
EQ,
UnderstandingSelf
Engagement with others
Skill Set enabling
Team Work
CASE STUDY:
SINENJONGO HIGH SCHOOL
With gratitude to Rabie Properties for endorsing the programme and
the L and B Cohen Trust for sponsoring the programme.
DATE: October 2014
General Key Need Identified
The vision of this mentoring programme is to work with a group of students and accompany
them on a journey beginning with self knowledge and continuing through building a skill set
that enables them to work collaboratively with, and become leaders of teams.
The vision is predicated on the idea, expressed by Daniel Goleman in the following quote:

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“If your emotional abilities aren't in hand, if you can't have empathy and have effective
relationships, then no matter how smart you are, you are not going to get very far.”
Specific Key Need Identified
It has became clear that although the Matric pass rate has improved in Sinenjongo High
School which is associated with improved academic facilities and resources, many of the
students who have matriculated and attend tertiary education institutions struggle with the
non- academic side of their education. In tertiary institutions the students on the whole are
from backgrounds and home situations that are challenging and not comparable to many of
the other students that they find themselves with. This raises challenges for the students
and has even been associated with the Sinenjongo students being unable to complete their
field of study.
Research
There has been much research in this area of challenge for students that are often called
“First Generation Higher Education Students” because they are the first generation in their
families that have the opportunity to attend a higher education institution. Their families
are therefore unable to equip them with the required skill set required to succeed in these
institutions and in this milieu.
Pym and Kapp (2011) explain as follows, “a significant number of the students experience
varying levels of demoralisation and loss of self acceptance when they first realise that their
schooling has not prepared them for university.” Pym and Kapp go on further to explain
that, “ The entry into a new environment of higher education- where very little is familiar
and which is physically far from home- often produces intense loneliness and a loss of voice,
self-esteemand purpose.( 2011, 7)
The affective situations of the students are often very difficult as well, as quoted by Pym and
Paxton (2014) “I have experienced a lot of violence in my youth leaving me to grow up
quickly and see the world with sceptical eyes or views.”

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References:
1. Surfacing Possibilities. What it Means to Work with First-Generation Higher Education
Students, edited by June Pym and Moragh Paxton. Published by Common Ground
publishers.
2. Harnessing Agency: towards a learning model for undergraduate students. J Pym and R
Kapp. www.tandfonline.com.
Proposal
We proposed to mentor a group of 6 students selected by the principal of the school who
would be immersed in the EQUEST Mentoring Programme of Excellence. The programme
would comprise of two workshops and two one- on- one sessions with the students. The
workshop would be built around the model, concepts and principles of the Lumina
Psychometric tool and generated portrait; this is to achieve a level of Self- Awareness that is
then expanded into proficiency in Emotional Intelligence. The portrait output is based on
responses to a psychologically validated and robust profiling on-line questionnaire.
The Mentoring Programme was specifically aimed at students from Grade 11 in the 4 term.
This age group has been targeted due to both their sophistication in handling concepts of
EQ and in order to prepare them for the university milieu. Grade 12 was deemed a year not
appropriate due to the end of year exams.
Outcomes
Through an engaging and interactive process we aimed to create sustainable change in the
participants by taking them on a journey of discovery and growth. Through this process they
participated in workshops and were exposed to ideas that assisted themto:
1. Understand themselves at a deeper level and gain confidence in using their strengths
2. Develop their emotional intelligence by increasing their sensitivity to others, reducing
judgment and increasing respect of others
3. Learn how to speed read the personality and communication needs of others
4. Communicate more effectively within the team and with others
5. Develop skills in giving feedback.
6. Understand each other’s strengths, weaknesses and preferred communication strategies

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7. Clarify key success behaviours to achieve the team vision and goal.
Process
1. Bryan Opert met with the principal of the school Mrs Nopote and Mrs Robertson (the
teacher who would become the school liaison) at which the programme was explained
and dates scheduled.
2. Quantum Growth sent an email to the participants clarifying context and including a link
to complete the questionnaire on-line. Mrs Robertson invigilated while the students filled
in the personally generated questionnaire.
EQUEST PROGRAMME
Lumina Spark Workshop 1
1. The first workshop was held at Ratanga Junction on 6 October 2014. We had the
opportunity to use these facilities due to the fact that the programme was endorsed by
Rabie Property.
2. One of the goals of both workshops and the one-on-ones is to ensure that the students
can fill their ‘toolboxes’ with practical skills
3. In order to introduce the students to basic concepts of EQ, the workshop started with
ideas of Perceptions and Perspectives. These concepts were dealt with by incorporating
stories, anecdotes, pictures and puzzles.
4. The workshop then moved to explaining the Lumina model.
5. Throughout the process the students were challenged to answer questions regarding
their responses to different scenarios and discussed the responses that they experienced
from their friends. As these questions progressed the students started developing a
language to assist themto identify different personality types (colours) and further to
understand the evolution into the 8 aspects.

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Workshopsteps
1. Welcome and Introduction to workshop.
2. Perceptions and Perspectives.
3. Card Game
4. Lumina Learning Model
5. NB for the toolbox - Speed Reading and Building Rapport
ObservedOutcomes
1. The students had never been exposed to these ideas in a structured and formal manner
before. They were amazed for example by the well-known young/old women picture
which they had not seen before. They did not imagine that there could be different
‘perspectives’ until it was pointed out that not only can there be different perspectives
but both could be correct.
2. During the Card Game there was robust discussion as the students began to see each
other somewhat through the eyes of their peers, once again something that they had not
formally experienced before.
3. When the students were given pictures of personalities to try and speed read, the
discussion was lively and the debate vigorous. It was a pleasure to see how the students
began to ‘play’ with the concepts illustrating their grasp of the model. This was further
illustrated in the challenges to identify what the different colours’ room, conversation
style and body language might look like.
4. Although they were introduced to the 24 qualities as they appeared on the map, these
were not expanded upon due to their complexity; however the 3 personas resonated
deeply with the students. Most of them expressed the idea that they could identify how
their responses changed in different situations which they now understood to be their
personas emerging.
5. The students engaged deeply with the GROWS model. The workshop in fact ended late
due to their desire to complete the Grows Model in detail.
6. An outcome which was not immediately observed but rather was reported by the
teachers was the students returning to school and using their ‘skills’ to speed read and
identify the colours of their teachers and fellow students.

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One-on-one First Session
1. These sessions were held at the Rabie offices.
2. The students were given their portraits for in-depth analysis.
3. For five of the students the responses rung absolutely true. As they read the various
suggestions and explanations they were astounded at the authenticity of the portrait.
This then became the foundation of a very fruitful discussion around areas of challenges
and areas of either dormant strengths to be developed or strengths to be tempered.
One studentappearstohave had difficultywiththe questionnaire.Herportraitwasperfectly
symmetrical anddidnotseemtobe connectedtoherenergiesinanywaywhatsoever.Idiscussed
thisat lengthwithbothherand Mrs Robertson.
4. There was great value in building a coaching/mentoring relationship during this phase of
the programme.
5. There was not an opportunity to touch on the GROWS sheet that the students had filled
in and this was dealt with in the second one-on-one sessions.
Lumina Spark Workshop 2
1. Welcome and Introduction to workshop.
2. Reviewing the Lumina Model- the students had their portraits with them and referred to
them constantly in order to be able to now use the model in an increased personal
manner
3. Introduction of Team Work ideas and concepts

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4. Revealing this groups TEAMSONA.
5. Three teamwork concepts were introduced and explored using stories, anecdotes and
challenges.
a. Relationship Bank Account
b. Win/Win
c. Seek to understand before you seek to be understood
ObservedOutcomes
1. This workshop was also held at Ratanga, but it wasn’t as good a venue since Ratanga was
opened especially for the workshop and it was too quiet.
2. During the discussion concerning their personal change built on their deeper self
knowledge it was revealed that the changes were significant. Primarily an understanding,
then acceptance of their own behavior and finally enough insight to begin change.
3. As with the concepts of Self-Knowledge they were exposed to during the first workshop,
discussing TeamWork in a formal and clearly illustrated manner was a completely new
concept.
4. During the first activity requiring team work to find the number of kiosks in Ratanga it
was clear that the group did not operate effectively.
5. The Teamsona was a real eye-opener for them as the group are quite friendly with each
other however when they stood on the mat and they saw some of their similarities and
differences healthy debate took place on how they have been managing the situation
and how they might improve on it.
6. The tools in their toolbox included the three concepts of building a team mentioned
above in 5a, b and c above.
MeetingwithPrincipal,Mrs Robertsonand class teacher
We were verypleasedwhenthisformal meetingwasaskedfor.Itappearedthatthere mighthave
beena bitof reticence andhesitationinthe beginningdue toaquestionaboutthe value of the
programme.Al thoughthismeetingwasnotoriginallypartof the programme itwas calledforin
orderto give feedback andtotry and gaininsightintoeachof the students.Thiswasdue tothe
effectandchange that wasvisible instudentsanddue tothe acceptance thatthe model workedso
well.
I discussedthisrequestwiththe studentsbefore engaging,toaskfortheirpermissiontoshare this
information.They all agreed.

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The meetingwentverywell withthe insightsgainedfromthe workshopsandportraitsresonating
verypowerfullywiththe teachersasbeingagooddescriptionof eachstudent.
Basedon the portraitswe proceededto considereachstudentindividuallywithadiscussiononhow
the students’energiescouldbe bestutilised,managedanddeveloped.
Mrs Nopote,the principal,askedforthisprogramme tobe run withthe teachersaswell.
One-on-one Second Session
1. This session will be held during the first term of Grade 12. The thrust of the session will
be
a. A rapid review of the Lumina model
b. A review of their personal portrait and benefits gained from having done and
hopefully implemented the portraits results.
c. Focusing on the goal expanded upon oi their GROWS MODEL sheet.
Assessment of Outcomes
1. Meeting both with the principal and teachers as mentioned above, to gauge their
observations as regards the value and impact that the programme had.
2. Pre and Post evaluation forms filled in by each student. The purpose is to gauge the
change that has taken place in the various areas focused on during the programme. The
Pre-evaluation form has been filled in the Post evaluation form will be filled in after the
second one-on –one session.
3. The post evaluation form will include
a. A mini ‘quiz’ to gauge to what extent the concepts have ‘stuck’
b. Their appraisal of the programme
4. The students have been asked to write a mini journal for themselves for a short period (2
months) to determine their own change. Based on this journal the students will be asked
to write a descriptive essay on their perceived change.

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