Folu is a first-year student on the BA Uniformed and Public Services course. We sat down and spoke with Folu about how his course is going, and how he has found making the move to Weston from a different area.
Folu has seen personal growth since starting at UCW. He was quite nervous before moving to Weston from Northamptonshire around three hours away. After moving here though, Folu made new friends who showed him around the area. He was able to gain confidence in his studies by booking 121 sessions with his lecturers, saying that they have always supported him. Folu added: “Everyone welcomed me here; they made me feel really confident.”
The lecturers have been a big part of Folu’s positive experience with UCW. They have explained the assignments clearly to him. The way Folu likes being helped is by knowing that, even if he has already had a meeting about a topic, he can book another meeting. This is something that the lecturers at UCW support, whereas other universities may not have the capacity to do this. This has helped him navigate any uncertainty he had around being a first-year student.
Folu said: “the HEART team has been amazing for me”. When he first came to UCW he was unsure of what he needed to be doing, but then he had a meeting with the HEART team to go through everything. He has one-to-one meetings with Clem from the Mental Health and Wellbeing team. “Clem is lovely, she always asks how you day is. This helps build my confidence, and I ask how she is as well”.
With this support behind him, Folu’s course is going well. His favourite module is Planning and Leading Adventurous Outdoor activities, though he is really enjoying other modules as well including introduction to research, understanding society conflict and cohesion, people and organisations. After university he is hoping to work as a PCSO, helping the community. When it comes to his future career, Folu says that the guest lectures have been very helpful in showing him jobs in the public services sector that he might not otherwise have thought of.
The facilities at UCW suit Folu well, with him saying: “Personally for me, I prefer to work at the library rather than accommodation.” This is an area where he can focus on what he is doing. “I can work at home, but the library is better for me and has the resources I need.” The library staff are very helpful with Folu mentioning: “I can ask the librarians where resources are, and they can find them.”
Folu finds the facilities so good, that he even comes in to work in the library on days when he doesn’t have any lectures. It’s no problem at all for Folu to get to the library every day, his student accommodation is only a five-minute walk away from the campus. Folu lives in the purpose-built Parkside House student accommodation.
When he first started living in the accommodation, Folu didn’t know any of the people he lived with, but very soon everyone started to communicate with each other more. Folu said: “They helped me with cooking, I enjoy chatting with them, they teach me about living away. It’s been good!” Sometimes Folu and his flatmates all cook for each other as well.
Since moving here, Folu has been enjoying living in Weston. He says: “Living in Weston is good, in Weston I like how all the shops are close together. If I need to go shopping, I don’t have to go too far to somewhere like Bristol for what I need.”
To find out more about accommodation at UCW, click here. For more information about Uniformed Public Services click here.
