Opening doors - students reflect on the value of their scholarships

Each year, the Faculty of Arts provides Alumni Scholarship Awards to undergraduate students to support essential living costs. For the 2024/2025 academic year, an English student, Jasmine Sellars, shares how this scholarship has profoundly impacted her academic and personal journey.

What brought you to the university?

“I grew up in Grimsby, Lincolnshire, before moving to Corby, Northamptonshire. An only child, I was raised by my dad, a retired chef, and my mum, an occupational therapist who is currently unable to work. Financial struggles were always present, but my parents encouraged me to follow my passion.

“Reading was my lifelong love, influenced by my mum and both grandmothers. We all shared a deep appreciation for literature – so much so that I even inherited my favourite book from them, Wuthering Heights. The joy of analysing and uncovering meanings in texts was reinforced by my supportive English teachers, making English my favourite subject throughout school.”

Why did you choose Nottingham?

“Nottingham captured my heart on the open day – the buildings, the people, and the English course all felt right. I chose to study English Language and Literature instead of just English because I loved the combination during A-Levels. The modules are fascinating, and my dream is to become a teacher, inspiring students the way my teachers inspired me.”

Favourite module

“I have really been enjoying the Studying Literature module. So far, we’ve studied Paradise Lost and Oroonoko, and I can’t wait for upcoming texts like Northanger Abbey, The Picture of Dorian Gray, and Virginia Woolf’s Short Stories.”

How the scholarship has helped

“I found out I would be receiving the Alumni Scholarship Award in May 2024, and as I was right in the midst of my A-Levels, it was a huge sigh of relief. Me and my dad had always struggled financially since he retired and both he and my mum had health problems meaning they couldn’t work. This scholarship genuinely means so much to both me and my family – I was over the moon that day (even in my A-Level Tudors exam!).”

We also heard from an English and Philosophy first-year student:

“Despite having a disability that seems rather intent on making my course difficult, I’ve still had a lot of fun so far! My two favourite modules currently are English Language and Metaphysics, since they’re a lot more science-y than you’d expect from the arts. In Language, I was able to take part in some experiments run by PhD students, in which they connected me to some monitors and watched how my eyes and facial muscles responded to different kinds of language. Outside of my subject, I’ve been taking part in a lot of arts and crafts with my flatmate. We discovered that carving pumpkins is another thing at which my hands unfortunately do not excel!

“My university experience so far has been wonderful. And while the universities themselves are largely to thank for that, the scholarship is too. Having an extra bit of funding takes the burden off trying to find a job that can accommodate me and has helped fund some nice add-ons for my laptop. Thank you for the kindness and for allowing me to partake in many more craft nights!”