Alys draws strength and motivation from inspiring teacher

: Created: 05 February 2021

Alys Williams, 18, who completed her course with a distinction grade and is now preparing to embark on a three-year BA (Hons) degree in September 2021 at Bolton University, came to the College in 2018 for just one year before moving out of London to Northern Ireland with her parents. She is currently completing her level 3 in Hair and Theatrical Makeup at her local college and intends to study Special Effects and Prosthetics at degree level.

Alys says: “Strangely enough, the person who I most want to thank for encouraging me to go on after suffering a lengthy period of clinical depression was my Level 1/2 Maths (Functional Skills) tutor Soji (Adesoji Aderibigbe). I was in a bad place at the time and was undergoing a course of psychotherapy to help me through it.

“Depression and anxiety can affect your aspirations and ambitions massively. It can also destroy your confidence. Having the right people in your life - the supporters, the ‘boosters’ and ‘stimulators’, really helps to lift you out of those dark places and find yourself again. These are the people who give you praise and help you to recognise every achievement you make - large or small. They give you hope and buoyancy, help you build resilience and see a brighter and clear path ahead.

“Before I attended the College, I had a real fear of maths - I really didn’t like these lessons at school and I found them boring and arduous. Soji’s lessons changed all that. He made the subject interesting and I started to see the different topics as exciting challenges rather than burdens - we were taught to apply different calculations to specific tasks and there was a relevance to everything we did.

“Soji treated everyone in the class with humility, gratitude and respect. It was almost like we were being taught by a really good friend who had our interests at heart throughout. He’s a thoroughly lovely man and perhaps the best teacher I’ve had so far. He would even sing to us and dance at the same time - one particular song was the circle song and it was brilliant.

“I’m now finishing off my level 3 course and then I’ll be back on the UK mainland in September to start my degree. I’d love to work in TV and film and that ambition to go on and achieve is partly due to the wonderful teacher I had in Soji.

“I would love to work on productions such as Game of Thrones, The Shape of Water, The Witcher and my ultimate fav, Dr Who. I’ve always been artistic and full of creativity and the last few years has seen me get better and enabled me to release my creative juices once again. Thank you Soji for being such an inspiration.”

Soji was delighted to hear about Alys’s progress since leaving the College. He said: “It’s always great to hear about your students’ progression and to know they are doing well. When I received the email from Alys and her father Bryan, it really made my day. This is why I came into teaching.”