My College days were the best days of my life... Before College, my entire life had been the same thing - strict education, where you were quite clearly a child. College, I got my first taste of freedom. At College, the staff treated you as if you were equals! I'd never felt to seen and heard.
I've always been about getting involved with opportunities available to me, and making the World a better place, helping people, so it felt natural to volunteer as Course Representative, then become a Student Ambassador, then Vice-President, AND THEN Student President.
Being Student President involved attending meetings concerning the welfare of the College students, staff, and visitors to the campus. Contributing helpful input that will help to make the College a safe and welcoming place to visit, work and study in. I attended regular Student Board meetings to discuss every part of the curriculum, the student's welfare during class and break time, and to arrange events to take place at the College that would create a fun and lively atmosphere for which students to thoroughly enjoy their time spent at College.
Due to this role I gained experience at presenting information to an audience, of communicating with a wide range of people, ability to work as part of a team and use initiative, as well as, flexibility to cope with new challenges and change.
Debating Events
On March 19th 2015, myself and three other Ambassadors took part in an environmental themed debating event at Bay House School, Gosport. It was held by Friends of the Earth. We were against three other colleges, these being Bay House Sixth Form, St Vincent, and Havant. I am proud to say Fareham College won both of the two rounds, and took the cup home. It was a great experience, and I had an excellent time.
I also, took part in the Debating event held at CEMAST on November 14th 2014. In a group of Student Ambassadors I debated on whether the voting age should be lowered to 16. The event was part of Parliament Week and was chaired by local MP Caroline Dinenage. I thoroughly enjoyed taking part, and looked forward to debating for my College again.
Accolades
In my final year, I was awarded for my contribution to the reputation of the college as a Student Governor. It was an honour to be recognised for my efforts.
Projects: Technology Through Time Exhibtion
This project was a collaboration between my College and the local Arts Centre to hold an exhibition at our local hall. Overall, it was a great experience! I had so much fun teaching fellow students a passion area of mine - screen printing. We were a varied group, some were not as creatively inclined, but they still enjoyed getting involved! I was so happy to see this, as I believe anyone can try their hand at being creative. Along the way, I volunteered to be apart of the short film, by taking part in interviews and photographs. By taking part in this project, I achieved the Silver Arts Award.
"Laura's Art's Challenge was to learn how to create an exhibition and use her existing creative skills to turn her research into an engaging exhibition about technology. She was an excellent team worker and highly committed to the project. She gained new skills in research and heritage through developing oral history interviews and undertaking research for her team. She contributed to the overall design of the exhibition by coming up with ideas to do with gaming and sketching visual representatives of these ideas. She was very good at problem solving and discussing potential pitfalls of other team member ideas in a tactful and thoughtful way. She is confident and friendly when working with others and did an excellent job in leading. For example she spent time teaching students how to screen print in order to create graphics for the exhibition. She is a very competent individual who is very creative."
- Lorna Franklin: Project Manager of No Facebook? OMG! Ashcroft Arts Centre
Young Entreprise Business Scheme
Young Enterprise is a not-for-profit business and enterprise education charity in England & Wales. They worked with Fareham College so that students had a chance to learn more soft skills required in a business. Winning the competition, going to the I.O.W and setting up our own business alongside our college studies. As Marketing Director of Aura Vinchique I designed and created all promotional items. The brand and identity of a company, for example, the logo, business cards, letterheads, flyers, websites etc
