By: News Archive
Around 5000 University of East Anglia (UEA) students will celebrate the culmination of three or more years’ hard work with their family and friends when they graduate at ceremonies next week (15-19 July).
As well as gaining a degree, many have used their time at university to achieve their ambitions and overcome challenges. From helping domestic abuse victims, touring their music, to travelling the world in a tuk-tuk and setting up their own companies, these students really do have a lot to celebrate.
In a muggle’s world
Rohan Gotobed traded in his wizard’s wand for university textbooks when he enrolled on the BA in English Literature and Drama course at UEA in 2016.
Prior to studying at University, the actor was famously known for his role in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 where he played young Sirius Black.
Rohan said: “I first chose UEA because my course covered a huge variety of theatre and books, as well as giving lots of practical opportunities.
“I have loved the breadth of material I’ve been taught. It’s been challenging a times trying to juggle everything, but the lecturers have been constantly helpful and I have no regrets about any of my modules.”
Since studying at UEA, Rohan has gone on to perform in films Possum (2018) and Slaughterhouse Rulez (2018), and set up the Coast to Coast Theatre Company with his friend Molly Farley, which aims to produce and tour political theatre outside of London.
Rohan also became vice president for both the Minotaur Theatre Company, UEA’s in-house theatre company run in association with the School of Literature, Drama and Creative Writing, and the student union’s Drama Society.
Rohan said: “Minotaur and the Drama Society have grown a lot during my time at UEA, and it was a privilege to serve as vice president for both organisations.
After graduation, Rohan will begin rehearsals for his new show ‘Play Before Birth’ which is set to be shown at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in August. In September, he will continue his studies at Birkbeck, University of London as he embarks on an MFA in Theatre Directing and hopes to experiment with writing and directing for both theatre and cinematic productions.
Rohan said: “UEA’s been a wonderful home and I’m really sad to be graduating. Of course, it’s exciting to move onto the next phase in my life. I just want to say thank you for an incredible three years.”
Production Company dreams for documentary duo
It’s not uncommon for university students to embark on a European adventure during their summer holidays, but for Callum Fairhurst and William Shears, their summer abroad wasn’t just about sightseeing, drinking foreign beer and sleeping rough in hostels – it led to a 9,000 mile adventure in a tuk-tuk, and an Amazon featured documentary.
Following the EU Referendum, Callum and William decided to embark on 27-country excursion across Europe to learn about the other countries that make up the European Union.
Instead of inter-railing, like most students their age would do, Callum and William hired a tuk-tuk, a three-wheeled motorised vehicle that is a popular form of transport in Asia.
The two students found that their tuk-tuk trip led to some crazy experiences; from spending a day with Polish millionaires, to a police escort out of Hungary and breaking down in Austria, with William directing and Callum interviewing, the duo documented it all in ‘Europe in a Tuk-Tuk’ which launched on Amazon in February this year.
William said: “The film is a testament to all the amazing staff and students who have helped us throughout our studies, and we are proud to have made a film that explores the EU Referendum in a way that is not currently covered in the news.”
In regards to graduating, Callum said: “I remember being in first year and thinking graduation was so far away. Now it’s just around the corner and I feel sad to be leaving. From making amazing friends to learning so many interesting things on my course and all the amazing opportunities I’ve had so far, I will miss being at UEA.”
William added: “The last four years have been an absolute blast. I will definitely miss it, but at the same time I’m excited to see what the future holds.”
Since the documentary’s launch, Callum has also collaborated with Child Bereavement UK to launch Sibling Support, a website for siblings dealing with bereavement, in memory of his brother Liam who passed away when Callum was twelve.
In the future, both students hope to launch a production company and join forces again to make another documentary series.
Callum will graduate with BA in International Development and William will graduate a BA in Politics and Media.
‘And that’s a rap’
Every final year student dreads their dissertation, but instead of writing the 10,000-word final coursework, Nicholas Uzoka rapped it.
Nicholas, a BA English and Creative Writing student, has always had a love for Hip-Hop music, but came to university with the dream of becoming an author and poet.
During his first year, Nicholas began experimenting with rhyme and rhythm poetry, using hip-hop instrumentals on YouTube to keep him in time. His rhymes eventually turned to rap, and Nicholas discovered that writing raps was his favourite form of artistic expression.
Since then, he has released three Eps, toured an album called Words With Friends around the UK and has been featured on BBC Radio Norfolk a number of times.
For his final piece of coursework, he created a 21-track album, featuring nine songs and twelve poetry skits, under his pseudonym Zoka the Author, in which he was awarded a First.
Nicholas said: “My future will be about music, music and more music. I want to give it my absolute all over the next couple of years and see how far I can get.
“My end goal is to be an artist like Donald Glover, also known as Childish Gambino, and be able to write lyrics, screenplays, stories or whatever I put my mind to.”
With regards to graduating, Nicholas said: “Graduating is a bittersweet feeling. Over the years, I have developed so much personally, artistically and intellectually as a result of my experiences at UEA. However, it will be nice to be able to devote myself entirely to my music career without the distractions of impending deadlines.”
To listen to Nicholas’s work, check out his work out on Spotify at Zoka, and follow him on Twitter at @zoka_the_author or Instagram at @zoka_the_author
Student overcomes fear of being lost in translation
Since childhood, Tabitha Carr has been fascinated by Japanese language and culture, and her love for it led her to pursue a degree in BA in Modern Languages with a concentration in Japanese.
As the first person from her family to attend university, Tabitha faced many unexpected challenges at UEA – the hardest being her fear of public speaking.
For her course, public speaking and oral presentations are often a reoccurring form of assessment to test the students’ knowledge of the Japanese language.
To help her overcome her phobia, Tabitha volunteered to give weekly speeches during her second year, attended extra Japanese languages classes and studied abroad for one semester at Kobe College in Nishinomiya, Japan where she opted to speak Japanese as much as possible, even though most people spoke English.
Tabitha’s hard work paid off as she won first place at the annual Nikkei Telecom Japanese Speech Contest earlier this year, a language-speaking competition hosted by the School of Politics, Philosophy and Language and Communications Studies and Nikkei Telecom, a newswire service that hosts a database of Japanese newspapers, magazines and journals.
Tabitha said: “I remember turning up to the competition in complete dread, almost regretting entering it because I was so nervous.
“To my surprise, when I was giving my speech at the competition, I didn’t have to look down at my script because I had remembered it completely. The encouraging faces of the people supporting me, and the kind audience who laughed during the humorous parts of my speech helped to calm my nerves.”
“When it was announced I had won first place, I was completely amazed. Four years earlier, public speaking would have been my nightmare, but today I find strength in it.”
About graduating, Tabitha said: “Before starting university, I was unsure about what kind of career I wanted. However, studying Japanese has let me discover that I have a love not only for languages, but for the art of translation. Therefore, my biggest goal when I leave is to become a Japanese and English translator.”
From flapjacks to legally-binding contracts
From having a career as a chef to pursuing a law degree, Catherine Lister has proved that it’s never too late to make a career change.
Catherine, who worked as a chef for several years, decided to trade in her cookbooks for law books when she enrolled on the BA in LLB Law.
Since her first year, Catherine constantly balanced university work, paid employment and voluntary roles. She successfully secured a position on the Domestic Abuse Team at Norfolk Community Law Service (NCLS) where she was made a team leader and supported local solicitors providing legal advice to individuals who had been subject to domestic abuse.
Catherine also organised the first Domestic Abuse Awareness and Fundraising Event for UEA students, an event that saw speakers from Leeway, a local charity that gives support to those who’ve experience domestic abuse, the Norfolk County Council Safety Partnership (NCCSP) and Longe & Co, a family solicitor that often does pro-bono work for NCCSP.
After graduation, Catherine will continue her career in law as a paralegal in a commercial litigation department and will continue to train in order to qualify as a solicitor.
Catherine said: “Upon qualifying, I hope to work in family law. My work in domestic abuse awareness during my degree has inspired me to follow this specialism in the future, and I believe it is an area of law that I could really make a positive difference.
“I am proud of everything that I’ve achieved during my time at UEA. Undertaking such a drastic career change was challenging, but through my determination I feel I made the most of my time at university.”
Rock climbing and shoelaces help future surgeon
Medicine is often considered as one of the most intense degrees out there, but Laura Brennan found time to win the regional heat of a surgical competition outside of her studies, putting her success down to shoelaces and rock climbing.
During her studies, Laura joined the Norwich Undergraduate Surgical Society, a student union medical society that works in partnership with the Royal College of Surgeons, and this is how she first heard about The Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh Student Surgical Competition.
The competition allows students from across the UK to compete in surgical challenges against their peers from other universities, with the regional heats held in November 2018.
“I entered the heat just hoping to enjoy the experience, learn some new surgical skills and meet other like-minded medical students, so it was a great surprise to win! My favourite task during the heat was one where students were asked to make origami to test their cognitive skills, dexterity and ability to work under pressure.”
For the finals in March, which Laura unfortunately did not win, she spent time outside of her studies getting to know how to use a laparoscopic machine and practicing her surgical knot by tying shoelaces.
After university, Laura will begin her two-year-long junior doctor training in and around the Bristol area.
Laura added: “I’m a keen rock climber and this has been a hobby of mine for a few years now. With a sport like climbing you frequently have to overcome mental and physical challenges and technical skill and manual dexterity under pressure are immensely important and highly transferable skills to surgery.”
“It’s a dream come true to be graduating, after seven years of extremely hard work. It has all finally paid off, and I am very excited to start my new job as a junior Doctor.
“It will be very strange and sad to leave Norwich as I have been here studying here for a long time and I have made a lot of great memories. I will miss UEA’s friendly atmosphere and fantastic energy.”
Laura will be graduating with an MBBS in Medicine.
Crime Writing passion continues for writer
Hannah Brown, from Hampshire, discovered a love and fascination with all things criminal whilst studying her English literature degree and will pursue her passion after graduating with a master’s degree.
During her third year of her BA English Literature course, Hannah’s love for writing was sparked during her creative writing class The Art of Murder, a module that explores the art of crime fiction writing.
Hannah said: “I had an amazing professor who really injected enthusiasm into the module, and my love of crime writing grew.
“Within a few weeks, I was consuming everything to do with crime writing, my search history resembled a field day for the FBI, and I couldn’t go anywhere without thinking ‘I wonder what once happened here?’”
Due to her growing love for crime fiction, Hannah was encouraged by her professor to apply to UEA’s MA in Crime Fiction. For the application, Hannah researched and wrote about the 19th century murder of Fanny Adams, and even visited Fanny’s grave, spoke to a local historian, viewed her death certificate and toured key locations in association with her murder.
Hannah has been accepted onto the course at UEA and will start her master’s degree this September.
Hannah said: “I started university with no idea what was in store for me. But now, graduation is just around the corner, and soon I’ll be starting the next chapter in my life.”
“As an English Literature graduate, I feel it’s my duty to quote Charles Dickens: ‘It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.’ But, no matter what I’ve experienced at UEA, this three years will hold dear to me forever.”
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