2022
Pursuing her training as a parademic, care-leaver Kellie-Anne Gallacher spent much of 2020 and 2021 in the front line of the battle against Covid.
In care from 13 to 18, Kellie-Anne had thought of joining the RAF, but decided instead to become a parademic, and won a place to study Paramedic Science at the University of Wolverhampton. As the pandemic took hold in early 2020, she combined paid work as a paramedic with course placements, first servicing ambulances and then moving into the front line.
She has now won a place to study part-time for an MSc in the Psychology of Mental Health and Well-Being, again at Wolverhampton. EBSF has given her a postgraduate bursary.
Trying to resuscitate a dying woman in front of her five children during Covid confirmed her belief in the importance of her chosen profession.
She is studying mental health and well-being because she believes mental illness is underestimated in the ambulance service.
A refugee from Nigeria, Samuel Raji was in care for six years in his teens. He studied at Sutton Coldfield College and then moved on a sports scholarship to Stoke-on-Trent College, where he played basketball at national level. His interest in the criminal justice system then led him to a dramatic change of course: he is now studying law at Nottingham Trent University.
Samuel does not yet have permanent leave to remain and so is not entitled to student loan. EBSF is paying Samuel a grant towards books, travel, equipment and day-to-day expenses.
Inspired towards a career in music production by his uncle, care-leaver Lamar Brown studied music technology at Wolverhampton University. Now he is studying for an MSc in Audio and Creative Technology, also at University.
With his skills in recording and making music, Lamar’s ambition is to make soundtracks and soundscapes, including for film and television. EBSF has given him a £3,000 postgraduate bursary.
When she was 11, Jessica Jane Davis told her careers officer that she wanted to be a teacher, and pinned a list of the necessary staging posts on her wardrobe door. Now armed with an undergraduate degree at Birmingham City University, Jessica is embarking on a PGCE course which will give her Qualified Leader Status.
In foster care from the age of four, Jessica believes her experience will give her empathy with children who have similar experiences. EBSF has granted her a £3,000 postgraduate bursary.
Always a fervent book-reader, Madonna Jonhera began to shine academically at school at GCSE level.
Now she is completing the second year of a four-year BSc at the University of Leicester in Medical Physiology, a course which applies disciplines like microbiology to medicine. She is now on a year’s placement at Willamette University, Oregon; EBSF has Fund has awarded her a bursary to help finance her trip.