So I travelled a bit when I was younger: Europe, USA, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Australia, NZ, Fiji. Then in 2016 I was lucky enough to be able to take my family on an incredible holiday in Tanzania. We saw some truly stunning places and wildlife. It’s a culturally rich and diverse country, and yet we also completely failed to experience anything beyond our tourist bubble and connect with anyone at all who wasn’t paid to be there for us. That bothered me, and so when the opportunity to lead a team of student volunteers on a playground building project in neighbouring Uganda came up a few months later, I knew right away that I wanted to do it. Why on Earth wouldn’t I?! What a welcome! After months of team-building, fundraising and preparation, the students and I flew out to a small community in Uganda just a few miles from the equator. Within minutes of our arrival, the kids were out ...
“Hey Muzungu!” International volunteering in Uganda
Isabel Holland: Finding success through Pathways to Law Programme
When I found out I had been accepted on the Pathways to Law programme, I was incredibly excited. It has been such a valuable experience and I have benefited from it more than I could ever have imagined. More than anything else, Pathways to Law has given me so much self-belief and the confidence to try so many new experiences. It was through Pathways to Law that I found out about the CMS Bursary Competition. After writing my essay and being invited to interview at the firm’s London offices, I was awarded a £7,500 bursary for my time at university. As part of this, I will also receive mentoring through UCAS from a solicitor at the firm and work experience with the firm at the end of my first term of university - these are all amazing things I would never have known about or had access to without Pathways to Law. Pathways to Law has given me the opportunity to connect with so many ...
What makes me, me? | Saturday Art Club
Nottingham Trent University’s (NTU) Saturday Art Club is part of the National Saturday Club, established by the Sorrell Foundation and delivered by 50 organisations around the UK. Coordinated by NTU Outreach, our Saturday Art Club is dedicated to providing hands-on workshops with 13-16 year olds from Nottingham city and county schools. Throughout the year the group work with a variety of artists and specialist creative practitioners, culminating in a national exhibition at Somerset House, London. The work on display is part of their year-long project entitled What makes me, me? The group were asked to consider what makes them who they are, from their genetic make-up and personal experiences, to their likes and dislikes. Nottingham-based artist and NTU BA (Hons) Decorative Arts alumna, Anna Collette Hunt, worked with the students to create the ceramic masks. They were each ...
Being A Young Carer: How I didn’t Let It Stop Me
As I write this and reflect on my life as a carer, I realise it has been…blinking hard! Just to set the scene, I am a 37 year old woman and I have been in a care role since I was 16, firstly for my mum and now, for my dad. Why have I said it’s been hard? As a young carer, there were things I had to do that my friends didn’t, and that impacted my life greatly. For instance, I would have to weigh up my decisions often: should I go out on the park one night and deal with the extra hassle this could cause when I got in? Or should I miss yet another social event and do stuff like ensure meds were taken and my mum was in bed without incident? FOMO is real for young adults, let alone young carers. Being a carer at university Now, I was lucky, I had my dad and my younger brother to help out with the care responsibilities, but even with that support, being a carer was hard. At 18 I ...
Children transported to a mouse-sized world!
Over the Christmas holidays, the Nottingham Trent Children’s University cohort had the opportunity to see an exclusive performance of Town Mouse and Country Mouse at Nottingham Playhouse. “I’ve never been away from this farm. Not once! I’ve really never had an adventure. So maybe I should go?” Country Mouse. Town Mouse loves the rush and the buzz of the city. Country Mouse prefers the wide open fields and sweet, fresh air of the countryside. They’re so different it looks like they will never get along. And with a cat arriving on the scene, can they resolve their differences before it is too late? Town Mouse and Country Mouse magically retells Aesop’s fable about the triumph of friendship and the joy of adventure. Lovingly adapted by Robin Kingsland, the audience were transported into a beautifully miniature, mouse-sized world in a show packed full of action, music and ...
Shannon, Traffic Engineer
Shannon (Age 26) Traffic Engineer As part of our 'Women in the Built Environment' campaign, we will be showcasing a series of successful women over a variety of posts each Monday. Today, we talked to Shannon who is a Traffic Engineer for BWB." As a child, I was always interested in building and understanding the mechanisms of everyday objects. At school, I took particular interest in Maths, Sciences and creative subjects, which understandably supported my future choices. After leaving Secondary school I had no clue what direction I wanted to go forward with, and so continued to study A-levels at College (Maths, Physics, Economics and English Language). However, I did not enjoy my studies as I found they were overly complex and involved unvaried teaching methods, this led to boredom and eventually poor attendance. Upon completion of the first year, I decided ...