Leeds Beckett University - City Campus,
Woodhouse Lane,
LS1 3HE
Student scholarships honour East Leeds entrepreneur Jimi Heselden
The Jimi Heselden Excellence Scholarships have been awarded to first year undergraduates to help them to realise their full potential. Shannon Bonner, D'Arcy Brookes, Lucie Cihova, Hayley Degnan, Melissa Hill, Danielle Horsfall, Juan Killgallon, Rebecca Mabuassa, Oppah Mkosana, Zara Rafiq, Marcin Szczech, Susan Shoko, Natalia Sydlowska, Kreshnik Tahiri and Lauren Worsley, have each been received £1,000.
Jimi Heselden, who passed away in 2010, was an entrepreneur from East Leeds. A former coal miner, he made his fortune manufacturing the Hesco Bastion barrier system. During his lifetime Jimi established the 'Jimbo's Fund' with Leeds Community Foundation, donating £23 million to support East Leeds and the surrounding area. It was through this Fund that they decided to support scholarships at Leeds Met to encourage students from East Leeds to attend higher education.
Sport, Physical Activity & Health BA(Hons) student, Danielle Horsfall said she would use the funding towards enhancing her career prospects.
"This scholarship will help me progress my university education further by taking up some of the extra certificates that my course has to offer such as a gym instructor qualification," she commented. "I find working with children and helping them learn new sporting skills extremely rewarding, and outside of university I am committed to this and to developing my own skills, by volunteering in the role of sports coach at various local high schools."
Biomedical Science undergraduate, Oppah Mkosana - who is the first member of her family to attend university - said the scholarship funding would be used towards course related materials such as text books.
She added: "I am determined and willing to go to any length to achieve my goal of becoming a biomedical scientist. I want to become the role model for my children and family. I am a hardworking and motivated individual with clear goals and I have chosen to pursue my education at the age of 34 and at the same time as being a mother-of-two."
The 15 successful students went through an application and interview process prior to their selection. To qualify for the scholarship they must have been high achievers at A-level and lived in and gone to secondary school in Leeds, in postcodes LS7,LS9, LS14, LS15 or LS25.