Cambridge to Careers: How I gained skills that took me into radio

My dream growing up was to be a captain on a cruise ship.

I wanted to go beyond my hometown and explore the world, meeting new people and learning new things. There aren’t many opportunities for people my age in St Helens. It used to be a big manufacturing and mining town, but by the 1990s, a lot of the traditional industries had dried up.

Although I loved my comprehensive school in Liverpool, I had no plans to go to university.

I thought only a certain type of person goes to university and I’m not like that. And then my secondary school was invited to an Open Day at Magdalene College in Cambridge. I remember thinking: this is just world’s away from anything that I could achieve, but wouldn't it be amazing if I could go there?

An initiative called Aspire put me in touch with a student mentor in Cambridge.