The Class of 2022 celebrate success at Leeds Trinity
Mature student graduates with career achievements and highest mark on her course
Leeds Trinity University student Alexa Stewart graduated with a degree in Working with Children, Young People and Families, having grown in confidence, established her career goals and received an award for achieving the highest mark across her course.
Alexa, 28, was first drawn to Leeds Trinity after discovering that four people she worked with had attended or were currently studying at the University and had spoken highly of it.
Alongside her studies, Alexa played a key part in the University-wide project Our Community: Building and Belonging, which focused on growing a sense of connection around campus through a series of campaigns and events exploring diversity, culture, heritage, sport and identity.
Alexa is now working full-time as an Adoption Advisor at One Adoption West Yorkshire. She said: “I never thought I had the ability to succeed at university, but Leeds Trinity has given me a serious confidence boost in myself. It has helped me to establish my future career plans and given me the confidence to know I can do it.”
Find out more about the Working with Children, Young People and Families course on the Leeds Trinity website.
Primary Education student becomes first in her family to graduate
Evie Hudson graduated with a degree in Primary Education: Later Years after becoming the first person in her family to attend university.
Evie became a student ambassador, course representative, Vice President of the University’s cheerleading team and worked in the Students’ Union bar. A highlight of Evie’s University journey was designing the first gender-inclusive cheerleading kit for her team.
After graduation, Evie plans to go into supply teaching to gain wider experience in various schools and prepare her further for her own primary class.
Evie said: “Leeds Trinity has shaped me as a person. When I think back to who I was at 18 when I first joined, I am a more refined, confident, passionate and understanding individual than I was back then.”
Find out more about studying Primary Education: Later Years on the Leeds Trinity University website.
University experience helps to build confidence of graduate with Autism
James Knight, 21, is Autistic and chose Leeds Trinity University as his first choice because its small and intimate campus catered to his needs better than other universities he had visited.
Whilst completing his degree in Sport and Exercise Sciences, James also joined the Leeds Trinity basketball team and became involved in University life as a student ambassador, working at Open Days and other University events, which built his confidence and enabled him to grow as a person.
James had ambitions to qualify as a sports coach or nutritionist after university, but having completed his degree in Sport and Exercise Sciences, he now has dreams of becoming a sport scientist or returning to education in the future.
James said: “Originally, I had no idea what I wanted to do in life. I came to university to find a path for me, now I have found my path. University has helped increase my confidence around new people and has helped me understand and control different areas of my Autism that I previously had trouble with – for example, living independently.”
Find out more about the Sport and Exercise Sciences course on the Leeds Trinity University website.
Leeds Trinity student and father-of-one graduates with start-up business success
A Leeds Trinity University mature student graduated with a degree in Accounting and Business having started his own bookkeeping business while studying.
Mark Ponsford, 54, founded Back 2 Books Financial Services Ltd and became a member of the International Association of Bookkeepers (IAB) alongside his studies in his second year of university, during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mark, from Bradford, is married with a daughter and chose Leeds Trinity University after attending an Open Day and being welcomed as a ‘name not a number’. He now intends to focus on building his new business after graduation with the skills he has developed, as well as working part-time in the accounts department at the Volkswagen van centre in Cleckheaton.
He is also considering extending his education at Leeds Trinity in the future by applying for the new postgraduate LLM Law course, after completing a law module in his Accounting and Business degree.
Mark said: “I have enjoyed the whole journey from start to finish – the staff, the students, even the lectures.”
Find out more about the Accounting and Business course on the Leeds Trinity University website.
PGCE student perseveres through the pandemic to secure new role
Raquel Parra, 47, graduated with a PGCE in Modern Foreign Languages after suspending her studies during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Supported throughout her journey by her lecturers at Leeds Trinity, Raquel returned to the University in January 2022, excelling in all areas.
Raquel also secured a graduate role whilst completing her course and will start at Royton and Crompton Academy in Greater Manchester as an Early Career Teacher (ECT) in September, where she will be teaching Spanish.
Raquel said: “I am so glad I decided to join the University as you never know what might be waiting for you, as COVID-19 has proved to all of us. I’ve learnt not to take anything for granted, and to always make the best of a situation because anything can change.”
Find out more about a PGCE in Modern Foreign Languages on the Leeds Trinity University website.
Student satisfaction
Leeds Trinity University recently achieved an overall student satisfaction score of 80% in the National Student Survey (NSS) 2022 results, making it joint top in Yorkshire and the Humber and joint 25th in the UK for this measure.
The NSS 2022 results follow the recent publication of the Higher Education Statistics Agency’s Graduate Outcomes survey. This places Leeds Trinity University top in Yorkshire for employability, and 15th in the UK, with 97% of its graduates in employment or further study within 15 months of finishing their studies.