Meet the recent graduates helping schoolchildren in Newcastle reach their potential
Eve Hemsley (BA Sociology, 2021) and Megan Haley (BA English Literature and History, 2021) are Education Workers at the IntoUniversity Newcastle East centre in Walker. Here, they inspire schoolchildren aged 7-18 and show that a university education is for all.
1 March 2024
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The IntoUniversity Newcastle East centre is a vital resource in the local community, delivered in partnership with Newcastle and Northumbria Universities.
After graduating from Newcastle University, both Eve and Megan joined the Newcastle East team to make a difference in our local community. We recently caught up with them to find out more about how they’re helping the next generation of graduates, and to reflect on their time at university.
Every day is different
“Every day looks different when you are a delivery team member of IntoUniversity,” Megan tells us. “I am the Primary FOCUS Coordinator in Newcastle so a large part of my role is managing our primary school partnerships alongside delivering workshops that help to introduce university style learning and increase knowledge about university from a young age.”
Eve adds, ““Some days we are delivering workshops in our centre, or in our partner schools: this can be a one-off session for 2 hours, or maybe one of our Cross-Centre programmes that last for 2 or 3 days, or a FOCUS Week which lasts for 5 days! Other times, we are in our office preparing for these workshops, attending a Freshers Fair at our partner universities, or perhaps helping in delivering training across the organisation.”
As well as supporting local primary schools, the IntoUniversity Centre in Walker has strong partnerships with secondary schools and local businesses to provide business simulations, so young people can experience all the options available to them once they’ve completed their education.
“The backbone of what we do,” says Megan, “is our Academic Support sessions, which run after school for students aged 7-18. This is where we see students who come on a weekly basis and have built strong relationships with.”
“No matter what we are delivering in the day, we know that come 4pm, we will see the same faces, week in, week out. I have developed very strong relationships with the students here,” Eve explains.
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Being a safe adult that students can trust
“Something I find really rewarding is seeing the difference in primary school students from Monday to Friday during our FOCUS Weeks, and seeing how their confidence has improved in such a short amount of time,” Megan tells us. “It’s really lovely to see how enthusiastic primary aged children are with the prospect of university and how engaged they are in the programmes.”
“For me,” Eve adds, “the most rewarding part of my job is working with students who are full of positivity and happiness, seeing a student understand a concept they didn’t previously, influencing their negative self-talk into something more productive, and being a safe adult that the students can trust.”
The role isn’t without its challenges, though. “We’re responsible for safeguarding the students, and it can be hard not to take that home with you,” says Eve.
“But all of these challenges contribute to why it is so rewarding and underpins why it is important to do the work that we do with the young people,” ends Megan.
University is ‘absolutely achievable’ for everyone
Both Megan and Eve come from similar backgrounds to the young people who they now help at the IntoUniversity centre in Walker. This drives their passion to help raise aspirations and encourage people to see the opportunities available to them.
Eve said, “I am a first-generation graduate, and was eligible for most bursaries and the highest maintenance loan. A student, regardless of their background, deserves to receive the level of education they want and need to achieve their goals. The students we work with can then go on to be a positive change in their community and continue this positive cycle of making a meaningful impact on the lives of others.”
Similarly, Megan was also the first in her family to consider university. She told us, “I relate to a lot of the students we work with being from a disadvantaged area myself. I went to a school where there were few students who chose to go onto sixth form, and I believe a lot of this is to do with further education not being encouraged enough in schools that are in less advantaged communities. Our work with primary schools is invaluable, as we offer early intervention for younger students to get them thinking about university as absolutely achievable for them, as it was for me.”
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Life lessons
Reflecting on their own university experience, Megan and Eve shared their favourite memories from Newcastle University and the impact their university education has had on their lives since.
“Being from a very homogeneous town, going to university allowed me to interact with people from different backgrounds and cultures,” Eve told us. “Building relationships with people with varied lived experiences is a huge part of what I value from my university experience.”
Megan added, “COVID was a big part of my degree as it affected both my second and third year, but it taught me independence and resilience and how to use these skills in my everyday life and future career.”
“Because of COVID, I was off campus for the majority of my studies,” says Eve. “As a result, a favourite memory of mine is being able to take photographs with my mam under The Arches when I graduated. It allowed for me to be able to celebrate my hard work in what was a very difficult time.”
Fond memories
“Newcastle University was my only choice when it came to university. I applied to 5 through UCAS, but if I hadn’t got into Newcastle I probably wouldn’t have gone to university at all!” Eve laughs. “I think I was so set on Newcastle given its short distance from my hometown, and the city of Newcastle being seen as the hub of the North East.”
They continue, “I lived in Park Terrace in my first year, then in Jesmond and West Jesmond in my second and third years. I was the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Representative for Sociology in my third year and volunteered in various roles throughout my time at university, most notably with Diversity Role Models. The most memorable moment of my degree was during a recorded lecture, when our lecturer swallowed a fly. It was incredible.”
“In first year, I lived in Liberty Plaza student accommodation, which is just across from St. James’ Park football stadium, so I was launched into the deep end of Newcastle football culture!” Megan tells us. “This made me feel like I was even more in the heart of the city as I could experience the buzz from the stadium at a distance.”
“My favourite modules throughout my degree focused on society and politics in Colonial India and another on the Jarrow Crusade which I really enjoyed as I got the opportunity to learn about local history in South Tyneside.”
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Empowering our communities to reach their potential
A recent report from the Institute of Fiscal Studies concluded that social mobility is the worst it has been in 50 years. Newcastle University is committed to helping as many people in our communities as possible to achieve their potential and move up and is calling on its global community to unite to create positive change for NCL in Action 2024.