Local Community Centre helped by Star IT Student

Kirsty Wilson

Rochdale resident Kirsty Wilson, 22, who is currently unemployed, signed up for a ‘CLAIT’ course at her local college in September last year; ‘CLAIT’ stands for Computer Literacy and Information Technology and is a nationally recognised course; If you pass a CLAIT course it shows employers you can use the main applications on a computer.

Kirsty, took to the course like a duck to water, as her tutor at Hopwood Hall College Paul Butcher explains: “Kirsty started the part-time CLAIT course in September 2009 and completed it in just 3 months. Most people take a full academic year! In addition she completed 5 Units whereas most people only manage 3 Units. She then moved on to the European Computer Driving Licence Course in January and is on target to complete by the end of June (most people take a full year or longer!). That is a huge achievement and we are very proud of her”.

Kirsty immediately set to work using her new IT skills by volunteering at the Demesne Community Centre in Rochdale.

Kirsty explains, “It started off as just doing the posters for a health event that they were having. After I designed a poster for them, they asked me to do a leaflet. They loved the leaflet and had 300 made up. I then designed a new logo for the centre and made them a new letterhead, compliment cards and business cards”.

The Centre Manager at Demesne Community Centre is delighted with Kirsty’s work and estimates she has already saved them £300 on design and printing costs – a significant sum of money for them. The College hopes that her new skills will help her to get a paid job and wishes her every success with her future studies.