Emma is an Access student in her final year studying for a BA in Law and Politics at DCU. In this piece, she explains what the opportunity to attend university means to her.
“I didn’t always think that I would go to college – that just wasn’t the aspiration for most young people where I come from. Success was seen as getting a job after school and beginning to earn money.
After getting disappointing results in my Leaving Certificate – something clicked for me though. I realised that I wanted more from life – I wanted a qualification and a career – not just a job – and so I repeated my exams.
Where I grew up, I was very aware of criminal activity and I decided that I wanted to study law and to become part of solving societal problems. I wanted to make a positive contribution to my world. In 2015, I became the first person in my family to attend university when I began a BA in Law and Politics in DCU.
Higher education has been a means for me to achieve what I once thought wasn’t possible. It has boosted my confidence and strengthened my mental attitude and resolve – I now know that I can do anything that I want to do.
Higher education is my passport to stand in a courtroom one day in the future where I will work to uphold the laws and standards that underpin our society, to resolve disputes and to protect the rights of individuals. A higher education has ensured that I am prepared for my future and that I face into it with self-assurance and the necessary skills.
My education is my passport to a qualification and to a job where I will have the chance to make a better life for myself and for this I sincerely thank the donors to the DCU Access Programme who have helped to make this possible for me.”