Profile twenty

I am an eighteen year old student from Liverpool and currently live at home with my mother and two of my brothers. I have recently completed a BTEC National Certificate in Events Management at Liverpool Community College receiving a double grade Distinction and will be starting a degree in this subject, this September, at Liverpool John Moores University.

I have never thought of myself as an academic person. My experiences in secondary school were not positive and I left at the beginning of my fourth year and began working as a retail assistant at the weekends.  At the same time I was a member of Tate Liverpool’s ‘Young Tate’ group. I bonded with the co-coordinator of this group. She gave me the opportunity to take on more responsibilities within this group. I started a placement as a Young Tate Co-Coordinator and began to realize my passion for what I wanted to do in life. Whilst with Tate Liverpool I actively learned basic skills and knowledge needed within the events management field. I held my first event at the age of fifteen in 2006 with attendance of two hundred. This gave me a great   sense of achievement and the drive to gain the qualifications I needed to properly fulfill my passion.

I left Tate to join Liverpool Community College in 2007 and completed five GCSEs to give me enough grades to get on the National Certificate in Events Management in 2008. While completing this course I also completed an NVQ in Team Leadership as part of a work based learning programme through my current job as a retail manager. Throughout the past two years I have continued to work on various Tate  events – Liverpool Tatoo Convention, Liverpool Soundcity and under eighteens Clubnight Bassline 29.

Having lived in Liverpool my whole life and because of the work I have done, I am extremely familiar with various venues and events within the city. In addition to this the city’s Capital of Culture win and all the events surrounding it led me to believe it would be unwise for me to study anywhere but Liverpool. Along with this reason, it is also extremely important for me to stay close to my family right now.

I was very unsure about carrying on to university, feeling worried about student debt and myself not succeeding. I applied to the trust fund for an arms-length of reasons. I am not the type of person to ask for help and tell others about my personal issues but my drive to do the best that I can at this subject made me apply. I can now take a huge weight from my shoulders and know that I can devote more of my time to studying rather than working.  I now know that I will have the money to pay for essentials.

I have found that it has been the people around me in life that have helped me feel like I’m stepping in the right direction with my life by giving me opportunities and advice and helping me to realize that I can achieve something. I don’t think the John Moran Trustees actually realize the gift that they have given me – because it isn’t just money to buy books and pay rent. They have given me a bigger opportunity to make something of myself and succeed. It is incredibly motivating to know that the trustees believe in me enough to give me this award.

I would like to express my gratitude to the trustees. I know it will make such a difference to my life – during and after university.