Hello all, I hope everyone is doing well!
I have been fairly busy the past few weeks; trying to stay on top of work and getting assignments done…. despite the workload I am enjoying it as we are now concentrating more on the eye and different properties of the eye; whether it is the anatomy of the eye or the optics of the eye. Although the subjects are becoming more interesting they are also becoming increasing more difficult. For that reason, I find myself having to try and spend more time revising my notes to ensure I understand everything. In the clinical lab we are practicing our routines for conducting eye examinations to find the eye refraction. It is fun as we are practicing on each other and developing a routine that we will use for the rest of our career.
The weather in London has remarkably got warmer. The past few days has been 10 degrees or more which is amazing for February in my books. The days also slowly getting lighter and longer again which means spring is around the corner and I cannot wait.
A few weeks ago I was a widening participation ambassador, it was really fun and I enjoyed the work. The widening participation program at City provides outreach activities for various communities in London to introduce children to higher education. The purpose is to help young people break down barriers which may be preventing them from considering going to university and also to build aspiration to go to university.
A few weeks ago I sat down with a group of year 11 and 12 school pupils, many of whom did not have going to university as a goal. I spent roughly 40 minutes showing the group the various departments and buildings on campus. They were amazed with the different facilities and equipment we have on campus here. They were fascinated with the journalism and media department and seeing the different radio and news rooms on campus. When I took the group to the Tait Building to see the health science facilities they were astonished. They were amazed how the university had a full clinic for nursing complete with beds and human sized dolls for students to practice on. They loved seeing the optometry clinical skills lab and watching the students practice. Walking past the biology research labs and telling them about the different research academics are doing also helped them understand what else universities do and can offer them. Near the end of the tour a few of them were talking about how they now want to go to university, after seeing the various facilities and departments. It was great to see how just a simple tour can change someones position or view on higher education and I was really happy to hear them say it. I felt like I’d helped build some type of aspiration with these pupils in a short period of time.
Sometimes I feel being in university is a privilege. The teacher who was with the school pupils was telling me, that for many students, this is the only time they will get to experience what university is like. I was distressed hearing that but that is the reality. For many, university can be unattainable because of their social or financial position. Being part of the WP program at City allows me to share my experience with younger people and allows me to help them get a better idea of what university is really like and that it is obtainable. Being a widening participation ambassador also allows me to help build aspiration which I hope will encourage these younger people to work harder so they are able to get the grades to enter higher education. I plan on doing more work with the WP team here at City and continue to share my experiences at university to help build aspiration and break down barriers that can prevent some people from thinking about enrolling in higher education.
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