Access to Science holds the key to a bright future

@CRC_College – While studying at Alec Hunter High School, Naomi Challis excelled at science and sport, holding the position of Head of Year and Head of Tutor Group respectively. Upon leaving school, Naomi attended college, but soon found that her priorities lay elsewhere. She subsequently left education to pursue full-time work and move out of her childhood home.

After 17 years away from education, Naomi found herself wanting more and started to research further education colleges with a view to returning to learning.

Naomi said, “When I was researching colleges, Cambridge Regional College looked the best and had a good feel to it when I attended an open day event. The fact that the college is in the top 10 colleges in England was a real pull for me.”

Naomi enrolled onto the Access to Science course to pick back up her passion for the subject and pursue her dream of becoming a Marine Biologist. Naomi has recently completed her Access course and reflects on her year of study, adding,

“The best thing about the course was the support from my teachers, especially understanding that I have a toddler at home to look after. The course was hard work, but worth it. It was very interesting, despite having a whole term online due to the pandemic. The tutors worked hard at keeping the cohort actively engaged through group activities, creating games and independent research.”

In addition to Marine Biology, Naomi has a particular interest in sharing her love of science and aspires to work in secondary schools inspiring young people, particularly girls, to get interested in the STEM subjects: Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths.

Naomi concludes, “As a young adult, I had no idea about the various avenues a science career could lead you down. I want to be able to spread that knowledge to encourage more people into STEM Careers.”

Naomi is now preparing to study Marine Biology at university from October 2021.