Redundancy works out well for talented young woman

Naomi Rushworth

When Naomi Rushworth from Rochdale was 16 years old, she went to study Key Skills at Rathbone training centre.

Working as a Training Assistant for a year she helped the students gain their key skills in Literacy, Numeracy and Information Technology.

After leaving the centre, she looked for a job in sales and marketing and was employed by Primus UK as a field Business to Business Agent. However, due to redundancy she had to leave this job 7 months later and this was when she decided to go back to education and enrolled at Hopwood Hall College.

Since then Naomi hasn’t looked back and has achieved some fantastic things at the College, she has completed her first year with all-round distinctions, she has just been nominated Hopwood Hall College’s Student of the Month as well as being elected as a student representative and she has also been selected as a interim marketing leader in the new leadership programme for learner voice

To enhance her learning experience Naomi has become actively involved in learner voice activities through out the College. Most recently she assisted the Marketing department in researching what her fellow students thought of the new marketing campaign. Her professional attitude towards this task and the timescale in which she did this was outstanding.

As a Student Rep she articulates the issues her class are having in a clear, concise and mature manner to the management of the College and always feeds their responses back to the class. Naomi has participated in a number of activities and events the Learner Participation Officers have put on including; Principal’s Question Time, Hopwood Halls’ Learner Voice Conference, Focus Groups and Student Council Meetings where she is always enthusiastic and encouraging when working with other students.

Her tutor Elaine Morley says: “Naomi has been an excellent role model for some of the younger students in her group and has excellent work ethics. She is a joy to teach, due to her enthusiasm to learn, hard work, dedication and commitment. Her work has also been very innovative, which links into her creative ability and interest in marketing.”

Naomi now plans to continue with her new roles at College and then move on to university in London to study marketing next year.

“I thought I would have been difficult to get back into education especially as I had limited finances, however the College has made it very simple and I would never regret my decision. The support from the College and tutors has been great and I wouldn’t have been able to do it without them,” said Naomi