Name: Susan Chappell
Course: BA (Hons) Product Design, Second Year

Susan is originally from Liverpool and lived in Aberdeen for 16 years. She decided to move to London when her youngest son was due to start secondary school. She loves everything about London - the theatre, history, music, shopping, and the real buzz you get from just walking around. She wouldn’t live anywhere else!

How did the Progression Scheme support you in your progression to HE?

I met Janey Hagger to go through my portfolio and Chris Lefteri gave me some pointers before my interview. It helped because the advice I had received at college was to only use college work but Chris advised me to put in other work (as I had a number of years of work and had only been at college for five months at that stage). I came back to look around the college and found it was a good chance to re-establish connection with Chris. I found the meeting about bursaries and loans useful too.

Do you enjoy your current course?

I’m in the second year and I’m really enjoying it - I know my way round, it’s more structured and I’m more focused to completion.

Do you enjoy being part of the University?

Yes definitely. I don’t take part in any sports and social activity that are run by the Students Union, it isn’t an option mainly because I live quite a distance away and also have responsibilities at home, but I do socialise with people in my year; there is a group of us that get together which is good.

What challenges have you faced?

It would have been nice to have some idea of the computer packages that are being used prior to starting the course. Maybe doing a course at home, on-line or run by the University. Perhaps it could be part of Pathfinding week.

What are your plans for the future?

I’m quite interested in packaging but also creative products to be used by the elderly or disabled. A friend of mine has been diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis and there is not much out there that is actually fun – it’s all very predictable and functional without being a bit weird or funky. Products should be more fun and accessible and not just existing products. For example the cups with two handles are almost identical to children’s cups – why not have one for cocktails?

What advice would you give yourself if you went back in time two years?

To pay more attention in computing type classes! Well, to be more aware that that is the way forward. I would definitely do it all over again!