{"id":12594,"date":"2019-04-19T07:55:25","date_gmt":"2019-04-19T06:55:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ounews.co\/?p=12594"},"modified":"2019-04-19T07:55:25","modified_gmt":"2019-04-19T06:55:25","slug":"studying-while-serving-overseas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/student-stories\/studying-while-serving-overseas\/","title":{"rendered":"Studying while serving overseas"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Felix Asare-Donkoh, 30, joined the\narmed forces soon after completing his A-levels in Cardiff, but realised he was\nstill keen to continue his education.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Usually, this would mean leaving the\narmy to study full-time, but by choosing to study with The Open University in\nWales, Felix was able to study for his Bachelors in Engineering while\ncontinuing to serve. He is one of 2,000 active or former service personnel\nstudying with the OU.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTaking on a degree with the OU in Wales was the best decision I could have made \u2013 it gave me the best of worlds, allowing me to continue doing the job I love, while studying at the same time.\u201d  <\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy\nbooks followed me everywhere\u201d<\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Despite finding himself in\nchallenging working environments, Felix was determined to make the most of his\nstudies, even water-proofing his textbooks to keep them safe from all the\ntravel and unexpected postings. He said:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy books have followed me to the Falkland Islands, Cyprus, and through many exercises within the UK. I had to waterproof my books somehow so I could revise in the evening while everyone else was resting.\u201d  <\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGive\nit 100% from the start\u201d<\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Though Felix wanted to continue his\neducation, he admits that juggling his career in the army and his studies\nwasn\u2019t always easy. He describes how things were especially difficult in the\nbeginning. \u201cI didn\u2019t know the structure very well,\u201d he said. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t until\nfurther down the line that I realised I had to pull my weight a little bit.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAt the beginning, I was more or less trying to tick boxes but as I went down the line I started putting the effort in and trying to make the time \u2013 at least an hour, two hours every night. My advice to anyone who is thinking about studying with The OU is don\u2019t do what I did! Give it 100% from the start!\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Since beginning his studies, Felix\nhas gone on to become an aircraft technician, and is currently working towards\nbecoming a sergeant in the military.
\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Celebrating\n50 years of flexible learning<\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Felix features as part of a new photography collection taken by renowned British photographer Chris Floyd<\/a>, to mark the OU\u2019s 50th Anniversary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Travelling around the UK to capture the remarkable stories of the OU today, Floyd\u2019s 10 portraits have been released alongside a never seen before collection of images from the OU\u2019s archive. See the rest of the inspirational students and alumni featured in our collection at 50.open.ac.uk\/photography <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Guest Author: Carly Sumner <\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n
\"Photograph<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Carly Sumner is a Digital Content Officer in the Development\nOffice at The Open University. She loves telling stories and has spent the past\n10 years writing about everything from nappy bags to balance transfers. She\nholds a BA (Hons) in Journalism and Media Studies from Coventry University.\nWhen she\u2019s not writing, Carly enjoys reading, sharing good food with great\npeople, and all things colourful. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Felix Asare-Donkoh, 30, joined the armed forces soon after completing his A-levels in Cardiff, but realised he was still keen to continue his education. Usually, this would mean leaving the army to study full-time, but by choosing to study with The Open University in Wales, Felix was able to study for his Bachelors in Engineering […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12486,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28,18],"tags":[375,388,805,1525,2115,2210],"class_list":["post-12594","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-engineering-innovation","category-student-stories","tag-carly-sumner","tag-case-study","tag-engineering","tag-news-home","tag-stem","tag-ou50"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12594","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12594"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12594\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12486"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12594"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12594"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12594"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}