Class of 2019
Creative Writing with English Language
IF YOU STUDIED YOUR UNDERGRADUATE PROGRAMME AT YORK ST JOHN UNIVERSITY OR FOUNDER COLLEGES, DID YOU GO ON TO POSTGRADUATE STUDY?
Yes, at York St John University
JOB:
Junior Account Manager – Chapter II
WHY HAVE YOU CHOSEN THIS PHOTO AS YOUR YSJ SNAPSHOT?
Since graduating from York St John, I’ve been very fortunate to find a career I love in marketing and PR.
I am currently working at Chapter II, a PR, marketing and design agency based in Sheffield, and the image I chose to include is one of my most recent headshots which was taken by our talented photographer Shea.
There is no doubt that without my time at York St John, I wouldn’t be where I am today. The skills I gained during my degree have been essential to my professional development and were the foundation for my interest in a creative career.
WHAT ARE YOUR FONDEST MEMORIES OF YORK ST JOHN UNIVERISTY?
I have so many amazing memories from my time at YSJ, including meeting people who I know will be lifelong friends, spending time being able to do what I love, and even the late night coffee-fuelled library sessions before assignment deadlines.
People always ask me if I had the choice, would I go back and do it all again? And the honest answer is yes. When you study at YSJ, you are part of a fantastic community and I have never experienced anything else like it. Since leaving uni, most of my friends and coursemates have gone their separate ways and we are now spread across the country working in a range of different jobs. One of the things I’ve missed most since leaving is having that community right on my doorstep, knowing we are all working towards a shared academic goal.
WHY DID YOU CHOOSE YORK ST JOHN UNIVERSITY OR FOUNDER COLLEGES?
When I was first applying to uni, York St John was one of only about 10 universities that offered the exact course that I wanted to do. I visited several open days at universities across the country while I was trying to make my decision, but York St John was the first place where I really felts at home. YSJ offered everything I was looking for at the time, including a city centre location, one central campus and a smaller student community compared to some of my other options.
WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN DOING SINCE COMPLETING YOUR STUDIES?
As I mentioned previously, I currently work at a PR, marketing and design agency in Sheffield called Chapter II. I’ve been a part of the Chapter II team since 2021 where I’ve progressed through a number of roles into my current position as a Junior Account Manager. Every day at Chapter II is an adventure, simply because no day is the same. We work on a huge range of projects as a team, and it is amazing to be a part of such a creative industry where I get to utilise a lot of the skills I gained during my time at York St John.
Before joining Chapter II, my first role in the marketing industry was one I found through a placement I got thanks to the YSJ careers team. In the time between my undergraduate degree and starting my MA, the careers team helped to place me in a marketing internship at the North Yorkshire Business and Education Partnership (NYBEP), based across the city on the University of York campus. I really enjoyed my time as an intern and after my placement ended I was offered a part-time role which I continued during my MA and beyond, until I joined Chapter II in 2021.
Aside from all of the knowledge I gained during my time studying, without engaging with the careers team at York St John, I might not have found the brilliant placements and career opportunities I’ve had since my degree. My time at YSJ has directly led me to the career I have now and I am so grateful I chose York St John all those years ago.
WHY DID YOU CHOOSE YOUR SPECIFIC COURSE?
Although I am quite a creative person, when I was initially choosing courses I wanted to keep my options open. At the point when I applied to university I didn’t really know what I wanted to do for a career, so the prospect of narrowing into one field at 19 seemed like the wrong decision for me. Instead, I chose to combine my love for creative writing with the English Language course, which allowed me to develop a completely different set of skills. Looking back, I am very glad I made this choice as my job now involves a lot of analytical work, so I often lean heavily on the tools I developed in the linguistics half of my degree.
WHAT WERE THE BEST FEATURES OF YOUR COURSE?
I think that one of the most positive aspects of the Creative Writing and English Language course is the variety. As a student you are given quite a lot of choice when it comes to the modules you will study, meaning you can really focus on topics you are interested in and areas where you know you want to develop your skills. For example, one year I took a scriptwriting module which was one of the highlights of my course, and a class I know almost everyone loved because the lecture theatre was full every week. This was a topic which was completely new to me and it gave me the opportunity to explore something I had never considered before.
On my degree we were also fortunate to have a number of fantastic guest lecturers who were able to share their experiences and help to provide some insight into potential careers outside of uni. It was one of these guest speakers who led me to apply to a placement at Penguin Random House in London and thanks to this I was able to gain my first bit of experience in the PR and marketing world.
WHAT ONE PIECE OF ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO A CURRENT STUDENT, OR ONE ABOUT TO GRADUATE?
Don’t wish your time away!
This is a piece of advice that was actually given to me by one of my lecturers while I was a student, so I feel like now is the perfect time for me to pass it along to any current or future YSJ students who might be reading. It is so easy to get caught up in assignments, deadlines and working towards the future, that you can forget to live in the moment. You will never get this time back, so don’t forget to enjoy yourself and make the most of every opportunity you can.