Posted 3 April 2020

Charlotte is currently a Year 13 student at Hanson School. Her experiences with GHWY include a STEM visit to the Jaguar Landrover factory at Halewood, a Start Your Health Career taster day at University of Leeds, a collaborative taster day for English Literature also at University of Leeds and various higher education fairs, assemblies and guidance in and out of school. She has not been sure about whether HE was for her, then wasn’t sure about which course best suited her. For a while she was looking at Occupational Therapy but finally decided to go with the course she is most passionate about – Theatre & Performance.

 

My name is Charlotte and I have been a part of the Go Higher West Yorkshire programme for nearly three years now and I don’t know what I would have done without this opportunity! Over the past two and a half years, I’ve been on multiple trips that have helped me gain experience and information about my choices when I was in a place where I didn’t really know what I wanted do in the future. One particular experience that really made me warm to the idea of university, after being stand-offish about it previously, was the University Search Fair in November of 2019. Until that point I hadn’t made my mind up on whether I wanted to go to university but the variety of options, courses on offer and the exciting opportunities that were there made me realise how much of an amazing chance this is for someone from my area. I hope to study at the University of Leeds in September 2020 and I’m really looking forward to studying a subject I’m extremely passionate about as well as meeting other like-minded people. My main challenge will most likely be an internal one. Overcoming social barriers with people who are more well off than me might be a struggle, in that I worry that I may not be accepted by them. However, the guidance of the Go Higher team at my school gives me every faith that I will be okay and fit right in. Two benefits I want to gain from university are firstly, that I will become more aware of financial requirements such as handling a student loan and having a budget planner; and secondly, that I will be able to access a performing arts career that has purpose within my community and for those who watch. The Go Higher experience has been one that I will never forget and it has supported me through some really difficult times with self-doubt and changing pathways but never left me astray! Go Higher is a welcoming and non-judgmental experience and I am so thankful to have been a part of it.

Charlotte, student at Hanson Academy