Rick Wilson-Rose
Posted : 1st September 2009
It’s my twenty-second birthday and instead of partying the night away and having a few drinks and catching up with all the old school mates I had invited, I was sat outside the venue, alone and miserable. It seemed all my friends from school were getting on in their lives, doing jobs that they loved earning good salaries and then there was me. Years of non-achievement had depressed me enough to leave my own party. It was time for a change.
I discovered Fircroft College of Adult Education the very next day and decided almost instantly that I would apply for the Access to HE Diploma to try and gain entry to University. The website showed a very beautiful college with a great Ofsted report, promising social justice and a ‘second chance’ for anyone lacking the right qualifications to get to University. Brilliant! I was mostly attracted by the idyllic surroundings and the opportunity to reside at Fircroft while studying. The ex-students profiles, just like the one I am writing now as I near the end of my stay at Fircroft, were compelling and inspiring. How could anyone possibly say no? Fircroft was nirvana! However as I started to fill out the application form I had second thoughts. Would they take someone like me, with my past and my lack of qualifications?
I left it another 9 months before finally plucking up the courage to apply. In that time I had explored what I wanted to do in life and decided I wanted to expand on my writing skills and engage in a career in Journalism, a career that requires degree level education. The decision to come to Fircroft is one I will never regret.
It’s been hard work but also a lot of fun. The course is designed very well, fitting the maximum amount of learning into the allocated time without over-working the students. The college is every bit as beautiful as the website portrays, if not more! The course offers options on what you want to study ensuring the best possible chance of you succeeding. The staff are quite simply amazing! They all genuinely believe in the social justice ethos and, being a smaller college, you instantly become part of the Fircroft family and experience the community atmosphere inherent at Fircroft.
Upon finishing my course I am now very excited to be looking forward to attending university in September, as I have been accepted on a Journalism and Media Production degree course at the University of Winchester. I really don’t know what to say apart from thank you Fircroft; you have changed my life, and for anyone reading this thinking of entering higher education, come to Fircroft! If it has worked for me, it will work for anyone!
