Hi everyone! My name is Parag and I am thrilled to be a MindJam mentor. 

My educational background has been STEM, being a graduate in Biomedical Science. Some notable achievements during that time are receiving an award by the Royal Society of Chemistry, meeting a nobel prize winner, winning a national teaching innovation award and even giving a talk at University of Cambridge!

However, education has not been easy for me. GCSE’s were a tough time as I would struggle a lot in exams not really understanding why. As a result of this, I did not get the pass grades for some exams including english language meaning I couldn’t do what I wanted to do which was A levels. I had my choices limited and chose BTEC. However, my experiences of BTEC has been really positive. I learnt over time that BTEC offers students more creativity than A level. In university, I once again struggled with exams not understanding why. In my final year, I met my project supervisor who noticed traits of dyslexia and advised me to get a dyslexia assessment right away. I was diagnosed as dyslexic, something all my teachers overlooked and learnt why I struggled in exams throughout my education journey. I learnt meeting the right people can truly change you for the better!

My favourite game has to be Minecraft. It’s a game which became a place of retreat for me. There is so much I learnt from the game which I apply to my everyday life. I’ve met some amazing people from Minecraft who have become some of my best friends and I’ve just simply never got bored of it. As time passed, it became more than a game, it became a canvas where I would express my imagination without any restrictions. I would build sculptures and buildings using the community made tools and help sculpt the landscape of some of my friends’ servers. Quite recently, I have gone professional in this space because I enjoy it so much! It’s expanded my knowledge into other areas such as Blender.

I always had a fascination to incorporate Minecraft in school projects. One example is during my BTEC studies where I was tasked to make a school laboratory design which I made into a 3D cinematic in minecraft with custom-made science models. The teacher had never seen something more interesting in his years of teaching that subject!

I also had an amazing opportunity in university to run a Minecraft server for autistic students. It was such a fun time talking to students about how much they love this game and how it’s empowered them to do so much more. It’s one of those times in university which I will never forget.

I joined MindJam because I want to empower children by showing how powerful games (especially Minecraft!) are as a communication medium and how to use them in a way to express your thoughts and creativity! I am DBS checked, trained in safeguarding and data protection, and have also received training in PDA, ASD & ADHD.