Charlie Lavemai-Goldsbrough

May 2018

Just finished at Durham, reading PPE. First Linacre cohort.

“In 2014, I was a part of the first Linacre cohort and was asked to write a case study about my time on the programme, citing the way that they helped with applications and my confidence. I also noted that the Institute influenced my university choices as well. The three years that I have spent at university have been life-changing and I would not hesitate to recommend Durham as a university and a city to live in. The opportunities to participate in societies and work experience has been ever present throughout my time and I’ve done things that I never thought that I could.

The Institute has also enriched my university life in many ways. I have been able to help others that are at my university that were in newer cohorts of Linacre and have become actively involved in the Alumni network. This also helped to create another network of support that is so valuable at such a nerve-wracking time. Without the help of Linacre, I do believe that a lot of elements of the last four years would have been different, from what course that I applied for, all the way to the network of friends I have at other universities. I can say that it changed my perspective of what I could achieve and I have felt unstoppable.

Although my university years have been the best of my life, there is still so much more to come. I am in the process of applying for jobs in local government and this has been influenced by both my interest in politics and helping the local community. My university career may be over, but this is just the beginning and it’s a very exciting time for myself, mainly because it’s the same feeling of stepping into the unknown as joining university was, almost as if I have gone full circle. Thanks to Linacre, I was able to appreciate the opportunities given to me and grab them with both hands, and I hope that other people can be influenced by it as I was.”