NEON Student of the Year Award – Commendation
As a care leaver, Geraldine has experienced the issues that widening participation (WP) students face when accessing higher education and has worked with literally thousands of young people, encouraging them to consider university as a realistic educational option. The range of tasks she has supported has been impressive; supporting WP children within the primary school projects all the way through the educational journey into Access programmes and pre‑entry.
Children and staff single her out for particular praise and even specifically request for her to come back into school. This positive feedback encouraged Geraldine to develop her own Outreach Workshop for Key Stage 3 students, encouraging them to consider the link between their GCSE subject choices and future career options. This workshop has now become an established aspect of the university’s core WP delivery.