Kilmarnock Graduation 2019: Outstanding Achievement Award

I thoroughly enjoyed the whole course from start to finish. Even the stress and pressure of deadlines was enjoyable to an extent! 

Michelle McCorriston, HNC Social Sciences

When my daughter started school, I thought now is the time to go back to education and start a career for myself. I do take a particular interest in people, what makes them tick, the society we live in and how that shapes people. So the HNC Social Science course made sense to me.

I had a big fear over whether I was capable of this or not. I hadn’t been at school for 17 years and had little faith in my academic abilities. I thought I’d struggle in comparison to those who were fresh from school or who were more educated than I was.

I thoroughly enjoyed the whole course from start to finish. Even the stress and pressure of deadlines was enjoyable to an extent! I just loved learning and having my mind opened. I loved being challenged, which I realised hadn’t happened in many years. Even the topics I didn’t think would interest me, grabbed my attention. 

So I think my highlight, other than meeting loads of new wonderful people (including lecturers) was that I walked away at the end of the HNC with confidence in myself, a confidence that I don’t think I even had at school. That and a thirst for knowledge which hadn’t been there for years. 

Besides confidence in myself, I would say the main skill I am grateful for now is the ability to be objective in any scenario in life. Social Science has taught me to be less judgemental and to look at the bigger picture and be less small minded. I feel this is a skill that will serve me well and stay with me forever.

I feel very surprised that I have won the award and very grateful to my lecturers for nominating me. It really was not expected.

My future plans are to being working, in some capacity, in an area I have passion in which is people and mental health and the causes of and recovery from mental health.

#ayrshiregrads