Alumni success stories shared to inspire the next generation of students

Back in October, five University alumni shared their success stories and career updates following the completion of their degrees to inspire current students. 

Anastasia Novoselova, Lecturer in English Language and Linguistics, brought together five Wolverhampton alumni to talk to current students about their careers after graduating from Wolverhampton. The event was well attended by students with a relaxed and friendly move, who enjoyed drinks and biscuits whilst listening and posing questions to the speakers. 

Dr Chris Martin

The evening was kicked off by Dr Chris Martin from Birmingham City University who discussed his BA in Linguistics and French and how it led him to teach both French and German in a socio-economically deprived area of Northern France as well as areas in the West Midlands. He then spoke about the fascinating similarities between the regional dialect spoken there, Ch’ti, and our own Black Country dialect. 

His love of language research and his enthusiasm for making languages available to all his students was clear, and he shared his fear that working-class students with limited financial means to travel feel like Modern Languages are not for them. His career has taken a clear turn toward pursuing his passion to help these students as he now works in Higher Education assisting students to acquire the necessary writing and presentation skills to complete a range of degrees. 

Kate Gomez

The second speaker was Kate Gomez who, as well as speaking fluent Spanish, completed a degree in Linguistics and TESOL. Like Chris, she had chosen a career in communication, first becoming a magazine editor and later, when her children were older, training to teach in mainstream secondary education. She now works in the West Midlands at Sandwell Academy, where she teaches French and Latin.

She has a firm conviction that all children should have access to languages, and she is convinced of the cultural capital, knowledge and fun her students get from completing GCSE Latin. Kate shared the joy of students' discovery of cognate forms between English and Latin (praescribo in Latin means ‘to rule, to order’ and looks similar to 'prescription'). She too is convinced that working class students can and should have opportunities to access the power languages bring and the satisfaction and earning power they bring.

Kate is also an accomplished local historian, with her published title, The Little Book of Staffordshire, just one of her outputs. She is now working on her second book and attempting to make local history accessible to the public via her blog. Kate shared how the research skills gained during her degree make this possible, and how she considers that students must be flexible as they search for their calling in the workplace. 

Stephanie Gilford

The third speaker, Stephanie Gilford, completed a BA in English Literature before accomplishing a post-graduate degree in Post Compulsory Education. She is now a teacher and manager of English in Adult Education. She spoke about starting out in Adult Education, a vital sector for upskilling and empowering learners, and the difficulties of navigating often temporary fixed-term contracts before gaining her full-time managerial position. She talked about the planning, people management and organisational skills that working outside of her degree throughout her undergraduate years instilled in her. She made it clear to graduates the importance of self-care when working and shared that she still finds time for her first love of reading even in a demanding work schedule. Students were especially intrigued to discuss the difference between teaching children and teaching adults, along with the issues facing adult learners which might not affect child learners.

Simona Tamoseviciute

Onto the penultimate speaker of the evening, Simona Tamoseviciute is a proud alumnus of the University of Wolverhampton, where she earned a First-Class Honours BA degree in English Language and Literature. Simona discussed her placement at CoachBright, a UK-based social mobility charity that supports young people from disadvantaged backgrounds. She shared how she helped forge links between West Midlands schools and Higher Education institutions including our University, and how vital it is that children have mentors whose lives chime with their own suggesting that University students volunteer to support GCSE and A-Level students in schools who lack confidence.

Callum Furnival

Callum has just graduated from the University with a BA degree in Creative and Professional Writing. He introduced his work as a professional writer of non-fiction and talked about some of the pros and cons of working with an editor in an online environment, which provided interesting insight into the world of publishing. As someone with autism, Callum shared some first-hand experience tips for current students studying courses in the School of Humanities. These included making the most of the opportunities and support available whilst at the University and the importance of getting the students' voices heard through course committees.

Anastasia Novoselova and the organisers of the event would like to thank all guest speakers sincerely for their time, intelligence, hard work and enthusiasm in bringing the evening to life.