Laura Jackson

BA (Hons) The Study of Religions 2006 -2009

Laura was recruited by the International Activities Department of Bath Spa University to work for them for two months during the summer of 2007. She worked as one of two (student) Social Programme Assistants. The job entailed organising social events for up to 53 international students who come to stay at BSU to learn English. Before coming to BSU, Laura had travelled extensively, had done a TEFL course and gained her CELTA certificate, meaning that she is a qualified teacher of English as a second language.

Laura also arranged and participated in day-excursions to various tourist spots including London, Oxford, Stonehenge, Cardiff as well as many other historic sites. Additionally, she organised several evening events such as pub-crawls, cinema trips and throwing extravagant parties (one of the creative high-lights of the job).

Of her work, she said this: "Not only was it well-paid and fun, but it had the added bonus of making new friends from all over the world. Furthermore, it enabled me to improve on future employment-related skills such as personal presentation, leadership skills, inter-personal relations, speaking in front of a group of people and, obviously, events organisation. My plan when I graduate is to be involved in conflict-resolution particularly in the form of inter-faith dialogue, and all of the skills I gained in this job will be relevant to that career."