From fruit-picking to First Class graduate

Mark Smith abandoned his ‘A’ levels half-way through to go fruit picking in France. Now, thirteen years later he has graduated from the University of Teesside with a First Class BSc (Hons) degree in Youth Studies and started a new post as a Young People’s Support / Development Worker for a Stockton-based charity, Eastern Ravens, in their Youth Inclusion Project.

Mark is only one of two graduates on the course to achieve a First Class degree and said: “I’m over the moon. I’d put the effort in and really knuckled down, doing my best. I’d been told by my tutors that I could achieve a First, but you never quite know.”

Mark, 30, lives in Norton, Stockton, and is originally from Middlesbrough. At 16 he left Langbaurgh School and moved on to Acklam Sixth Form, where he started ‘A’ levels in Design Technology and Art. However, in the second year of ‘A’ levels some friends decided to go fruit picking in France, and Mark joined them, leaving his studies behind. When he returned to the UK, he found it difficult to get work locally, and was unemployed for six years.

Mark said: “It was very dispiriting, I’d fallen into a trap. I hadn’t started an apprenticeship or training at 16 so had nothing practical to fall back on, with few qualifications and unfinished ‘A’ levels.”

While looking for work Mark was invited to volunteer as a football coach for young people aged 5-14 in Middlesbrough, setting him on the path to a new career. Mark later gained a full-time post as a youth worker in Middlesbrough Council’s leisure facilities.

Mark said: “It was good to see young people getting involved in positive activities like sports, and to build up a rapport with them. I felt this was my chosen career and wanted a qualification to help me build and develop this work further.”

Mark read about the Youth Studies degree in the University’s prospectus, and decided to apply. He said: “I found the course quite daunting at first, having been out of education for ten years. I questioned my ability on a daily basis, I thought ‘was I cut out to work for three years at this level?’ When I received my first set of marks I realised that with hard work and effort I could achieve this degree.

“I enjoyed most of the modules; such as Crime and Society, Young Cultures and Young People Health and Risk. The research is new and cutting-edge and you get a real insight into some of the problems young people are facing. The course has given me a lot of confidence and a belief in my own abilities. At some point I’d like to study part-time for a PhD. I’d like to thank my wife Jane for all of her support during the degree, it was her idea I should go to University in the first place. I’m the first in my family to graduate from University, I think my parents Brian and Pamela will be really proud when I graduate later this year.”

During the course Mark was employed by the NHS as a physical support worker for a fellow Teesside student, helping him to prepare meals and get ready for nights out at the Students’ Union.

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