Molly Daniel has kick-started her lifelong dream of becoming a teacher thanks to the £100 Employability Award available to all final-year De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) students.
The 21-year-old Performing Arts student from South London is set to start her School-Centred Initial Teacher Training (SCITT) in Sutton this September, after graduating from DMU in July.
During the year-long programme she will gain practical experience of teaching secondary schoolchildren across different types of schools locally, as well as spend time learning the theory behind teaching principles.
“Of all the SCITT programmes I applied to, I’m so happy that I got into Sutton. It’s one of the best in the country with a really high employability rate at the end of it,” said Molly.
“The £100 from DMU was brilliant – it covered my UCAS application, a new outfit for my interviews and put petrol in my car so I could afford to travel to the interviews as well.
“For me it was a great buffer as I had to miss a few shifts at work to make the interviews, so I would have been out of pocket otherwise.”
Molly (far right) posing with friends on their #DMUglobal trip in New York
Molly is particularly looking forward to transferring the skills and knowledge she’s learned at DMU to her teaching career.
She said: “Performing Arts at DMU gives students an unbelievable opportunity to explore. I feel like I’ve done film, psychology, gaming and so many other degrees all in one.
“There are lots of different aspects that I’ve discovered and I’m so excited to take it all into a school. I’m thinking of exciting projects like doing Hamlet on Snapchat … why not?”
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Teaching seems like an unusual route to take for someone who described their high-school years as ‘miserable’, but one dedicated teacher inspired Molly to follow in his footsteps.
“I hated school so much because I struggled with a lot of subjects. Most of the teachers made me feel worthless, but my Drama teacher Mr Wheel took the time to listen to me and is the only reason I got through school with the grades to apply to university,” she said.
“Eventually, I figured if he cared so much then I couldn’t let him down. Thanks to his passion I got an A* in Drama. I was predicted a D in Maths, but because he let me study in his office and helped me out, I ended up getting a B.
“So if I can be what he was to me, then maybe that’s one less child planning a future which doesn’t feature college or university.”
Enjoying an evening stroll during her #DMUglobal trip to Malta
Taking Performing Arts at college gave Molly the confidence to apply to university. She said: “I knew if I was going to commit to three years of higher education it would have to be something I absolutely loved.
“DMU was the best choice I could have ever made. I have friends and family at other universities and none of them rave about their time there in the same way.”
As well as ending her final year on a high, working with a professional company on an unforgettable remaking of a Hitchcock classic, Molly is also grateful for the enriching #DMUglobal opportunities.
She spent a week in Malta last September as part of an International Performance Project and joined more than 1,000 DMU students in New York this January, saying: “The trips were such an energising start to our final year, broadening our performance and cultural horizons.
“They’re both on my CV and something I’m very proud to speak about at interviews.”
Posted on Monday 8 May 2017