Fundraising

Thanks in part to donor support, Kerry Nichols began studying with the OU on a fully funded Openings Course in 2011 and is now on the way to achieving her degree. She always had a desire to learn but the cost of studying was holding her back.

Through a taster session run by the OU’s community partnership scheme, at Castle Green Children’s Centre where Kerry was volunteering, she found out about Openings courses and how she could get financial assistance to study with the OU.
 
Discovering Openings Courses
At the taster session I met Gaynor Gardner (OU Community Partnerships Manager) and she highlighted the pros and cons of Open University study to me. We discussed my current situation, that I was studying level 2 counselling skills at my local FE College in the evenings and how I could not afford the fees for the diploma study. I found out the OU helps to support people like me and that my Openings courses would be fully funded by the OU.

Flexible study fits in with family life
My discussion with Gaynor opened my eyes to studying from home. It would mean I could fit my study in around my son who was barely two at the time and being sent to my parents while I attended college one night per week. I no longer had to alter his routine, I could work from home and attend a weekly study group with other students where I learnt study skills which built a foundation for me when writing my assignments. It was so helpful having a study group of other mature students who, like me, had slumps in study motivation. They were always there to encourage me and I was elated when I received a distinction on the Openings module Y183 Starting with Psychology.

Taking studies to the next level
Following the Openings course I am now studying towards a BSc (Honours) Psychology and have done several modules towards this degree.

An increased confidence and new opportunities
I have increased confidence in my abilities and feel happy to promote OU study wherever I go. I have been lucky enough to speak about my OU experience at the NIACE conference 2012 and at a recent Vice-Chancellor’s Lunch and publicly thank Gaynor and the OU for the support, guidance and structure they have given to my studies and my life.

I chair my local Children’s Centre Parent Forum and the Barking and Dagenham borough-wide Parent Board. Through OU study I have realised that, as a parent and a student, I have a voice.

Setting goals
I had a goal 18 months ago to become a counsellor but because of my studies and the opportunities I’ve had, I now visit the weekly study group for new OU Openings students and speak with them about how they are finding their studies and encourage them to believe in themselves as students and their work.

As a result of this work I have a new goal. Once I have completed my degree I intend to study further and become a teacher/tutor for adult learners.

Volunteering and supporting new OU students
I have just been offered the opportunity to facilitate a short training course in conjunction with a local Children’s Centre where I will be teaching parents about internet safety and cyberbullying and I will continue my studies with OU whilst volunteering in my various roles, and I will be attending the weekly study groups at Castle Green Children’s Centre to speak with the new students and give them the encouragement and guidance that I received. My fellow students from Dagenham (where the children’s centre is based) have become an extended family and we are all there to support one another and this is what we like to encourage in all new students.

Support during your studies
My greatest challenge was earlier this year when my mum was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer She became very ill very quickly and passed away 12 weeks after diagnosis. Around this time I was completing two modules DSE141 and SDK125 and I was due to start D240. I had end of module assignments to submit and an exam date for SDK125. Student services gave me such wonderful support, deferring my exam so I was able to spend precious time with my parents and sibling in my mums final days. My biggest fear was that I would be in an exam room far away when she passed away and thanks to student support I was able to be with her and concentrate on making her comfortable instead of cramming for an examination. My tutors were brilliantly supportive granting me extensions on assignments, This is where I feel OU differs from other higher education establishments as I doubt I would have been able to continue studying elsewhere. I feel this was also my greatest success as I was able to complete all three modules.

Find out more:

• Openings Courses
• Community Partnerships Programme
   

 

OU student Jan Chessell is the first winner of The Mathena Kerr Ross Prize, given in memory of an OU student who particularly loved Shakespeare.

The annual prize, which was established by Mathena’s husband Harry and daughters Sheila and Alison, was awarded for the best essay submitted by students of the module AA306 Shakespeare: text and performance.

“We were keen to establish an annual award of some kind as a way of celebrating and remembering our mother’s life”, explained Sheila. “She won the prize for top pupil at North Kelvinside School, Glasgow but was not able to go to University and began a career in banking. She always maintained a keen interest in history, art and literature and encouraged both my sister and I to pursue academic goals.”

When Mathena retired, she joined The Open University to indulge her love of learning. She studied throughout the 1990s, gaining her Diploma in European Studies in 1993 and a BA in 1999. “She was very proud of her achievements and developed a real passion for Shakespeare during her studies – particularly the Sonnets. We think she would have been really delighted to be supporting others and recognising excellence in a field that was so close to her heart.”

Award winner Jan says she can identify with the idea behind the award. “Because my career as a fundraiser was a way of remembering my father's life, I appreciate what Mrs Ross's family wanted to achieve in setting up a prize in her name. I feel honoured to be the first recipient”.

If you’d like to make a donation in memory of a loved one, please contact Karen Hart on 01908 659141(email k.l.hart@open.ac.uk)
 

• Study Arts and Humanities
• Find out more about OU fundraising projects

 

Thanks to the continuing generosity of the Comino Foundation, five students about to embark on their research projects, have recently each been awarded £1,000 to enhance their studies...

Successful student applicants from T450 The engineering project, T885 Team engineering, and T802 The MSc research course currently benefit from these scholarships.

The Foundation was set up in 1971 by the late Demetrius Comino with his daughter Anna and these scholarships are offered in memory of Norman Bailey, a former Trustee who himself was an engineer. The Foundation is committed to encouraging people to want to succeed and enable them to develop their self-esteem, enterprise and initiative, their ability to lead and to work with others. It encourages creative thinking and decision making, and to accept personal responsibility for their decisions and actions.

Two rounds of scholarships are offered each year and this Spring there were 30 applicants. The successful scholarship recipients will be working on a diverse range of projects, from the use of composite materials in the operation of the Thames Barrier, to the design of a satellite network that will interconnect numerous rural communities in Ethiopia.

The Open University and the Bailey-Comino scholarship recipients are very grateful to the Foundation for this, their ninth year of support for Open University students.

• Find out more about engineering at The OU
• Find out more about environmental decision making at the OU