My dream..
Ever since I was in primary school I've wanted to write, from about eight years old [or that's how my mother recalls in.] While all the other girls were on about how they wanted to be hairdressers or make up artists, I was more concerned with scribbling notes for stories in the back of my school books.
As I grew older I learnt more about journalism, and I knew that that's what I wanted to do when I "grew up". My primary school teachers told my mum that I would never get anywhere because I was always below 100%, and yet they told my best friend at the time that she would "go places". Obviously if a teacher said that to a parent now days, they'd have a tonne of bricks fall down on them, but when I was in school that was the done thing.
I stuck with what I wanted to do all the way through secondary school. I was never the top in the group, but I had a passion and I intended to hold on to it for dear life.
It was a tough time for me, I was never a popular kid, far from it really. I got bullied a lot by people who thought they were better than me but I didn't let it break me. I took all of that on and it made me stronger, it made me the person I am today.
Now that best friend I was talking about, she got to year 10 and was kicked out of school for carrying drugs on her. She claimed that they weren't hers, but we all knew different. She left school with nothing, no grades, no friends and I carried on because I was determined to do well.
I left school with 10 GCSE's and a GNVQ, decent enough grades to get me where I wanted to be and that's when everything changed.
Mum told us that her department at work was closing down and relocating to Lincolnshire. I didn't even know where Lincolnshire was! I'd lived most of my life in Clacton and the thought of leaving everything and everyone behind was terrifying. I was only 16, I had to go where the family went. I started Sixth Form in Clacton because we hadn't found a new house in Lincolnshire yet, but 5 months in to it I had to leave.
We moved up to Lincolnshire where everything was completely different. The accent, the atmosphere, the place were had moved to. It was the country! There was nothing in walking distance, not even school for my brothers. I didn't know anyone and it was a very lonely time for me.
I tried to get in to a college up here, but I hadn't taken my January exams in Clacton and so they would not let me carry on at college here. I had to get a job for several months. It wasn't nice, I was 17 and terrified that I was losing out on my dream but good things happen to those who wait.
When September finally came around, I was enrolled at Boston college and would spend 2 years there doing my A-levels. English language, media studies, photography and AS religious studies (though that was mainly because I fancied my teacher!)
I came out the other side with some great friends and some decent enough grades to get me in to the University of Lincoln, doing a BA honours degree in journalism. I finally made it!
I'm now officially in my third year of my degree, researching for my 10,000 word dissertation. I have started to become quite interested in investigative journalism, so who knows where the dream will go.
As I grew older I learnt more about journalism, and I knew that that's what I wanted to do when I "grew up". My primary school teachers told my mum that I would never get anywhere because I was always below 100%, and yet they told my best friend at the time that she would "go places". Obviously if a teacher said that to a parent now days, they'd have a tonne of bricks fall down on them, but when I was in school that was the done thing.
I stuck with what I wanted to do all the way through secondary school. I was never the top in the group, but I had a passion and I intended to hold on to it for dear life.
It was a tough time for me, I was never a popular kid, far from it really. I got bullied a lot by people who thought they were better than me but I didn't let it break me. I took all of that on and it made me stronger, it made me the person I am today.
Now that best friend I was talking about, she got to year 10 and was kicked out of school for carrying drugs on her. She claimed that they weren't hers, but we all knew different. She left school with nothing, no grades, no friends and I carried on because I was determined to do well.
I left school with 10 GCSE's and a GNVQ, decent enough grades to get me where I wanted to be and that's when everything changed.
Mum told us that her department at work was closing down and relocating to Lincolnshire. I didn't even know where Lincolnshire was! I'd lived most of my life in Clacton and the thought of leaving everything and everyone behind was terrifying. I was only 16, I had to go where the family went. I started Sixth Form in Clacton because we hadn't found a new house in Lincolnshire yet, but 5 months in to it I had to leave.
We moved up to Lincolnshire where everything was completely different. The accent, the atmosphere, the place were had moved to. It was the country! There was nothing in walking distance, not even school for my brothers. I didn't know anyone and it was a very lonely time for me.
I tried to get in to a college up here, but I hadn't taken my January exams in Clacton and so they would not let me carry on at college here. I had to get a job for several months. It wasn't nice, I was 17 and terrified that I was losing out on my dream but good things happen to those who wait.
When September finally came around, I was enrolled at Boston college and would spend 2 years there doing my A-levels. English language, media studies, photography and AS religious studies (though that was mainly because I fancied my teacher!)
I came out the other side with some great friends and some decent enough grades to get me in to the University of Lincoln, doing a BA honours degree in journalism. I finally made it!
I'm now officially in my third year of my degree, researching for my 10,000 word dissertation. I have started to become quite interested in investigative journalism, so who knows where the dream will go.