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The Leeds Beckett University website occasionally uses animations to page elements and animated gifs to add impact to pages. If you wish to stop them from playing for accessibility purposes or for personal preference then please see the guidance below. Please note that browsers sometimes change how they operate, so please refer to your browser help files to find their latest information.
How do I turn off animations?

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Firefox

Type about:config in Firefox address bar and hit Enter to open Settings. Search for the image.animation_mode flag and change its value from Normal to None. Once you restart Firefox this will disable animations.

School of Built Environment, Engineering and Computing

Being a mum and a mature student during a pandemic

Returning to study as a mature student was a big decision for me. I was apprehensive at first, I felt I would stand out as being different and truthfully, I wondered if I was too old. As soon as I started, I realised how many different types of people there were at Leeds Beckett, and in some ways, I feel being older gave me an advantage. I had real world experience, so when we were discussing certain aspects of Project Management, I was able to relate them to real life situations, allowing me a deeper understanding in certain areas.

Written By

Kerry Brown

Published on 08 Jul 2021

Toward the end of Level 5 I found out I was expecting my second child! I spoke with my course leader and he provided me with lots of options, in the end I decided I would defer for a year. Little did we all know, that by that point, we would be in the midst of a worldwide pandemic. Returning for my final year all of the lectures were online, and I was having to homeschool a 5 year old with a 1 year old running around. It was tough - I struggled to fit everything in and at one point, I seriously considered deferring again. I worried if I did defer that I would never find the time to complete it, there were always going to be challenges for me so I decided to do the best that I could in the situation I was in, working when the children had gone to bed and fitting in extra time to study whenever I had any spare time.

Student of the Year Award

I was encouraged to enter the APM Student of the Year competition, and in all honesty, initially I saw it as extra work that I just did not have time for. Some gentle persuasion and encouragement from my course leader led me to stay up one night and complete the submission.

For my submission I had to showcase how I could apply my studies to real-world work. I spoke about things I had been taught on my course and the business I run with my partner.

I was then shortlisted for the finals and I couldn’t believe it - I was happy but also a little stressed with the deadline of my major project fast approaching. I had to deliver a ten-minute presentation and answer questions about my project.

It was all worth it though, as when the judges said my name on the night of the final I was so shocked. The other finalists were amazing and I genuinely couldn’t believe that I had won - I never win anything! Receiving some recognition made me feel so proud.

My final thoughts

My journey at university has been quite unique in some ways, and some days I wondered if I would ever complete it all, but submitting my Major Project and winning the award all in one week made everything worthwhile.

I am yet to receive my results for my final year, but I am honestly just so proud that I completed it with everything else going on. My advice for anyone considering a change of career path is to go for it. I have learnt so much, met many amazing people and gained confidence and experience ready for my next chapter - whatever that may be.