Hello my name is Noreen. Before I started the Certificate in General Studies with the Downtown Centre I was at home, looking after my family and the house having lost my job because of the current recession. I was looking for something to keep my mind active and to fill my days, so when my niece told me she was applying to do a course with the Downtown Centre, I felt that this was the perfect opportunity for me to do something too – to keep my mind active, fill my days and also broaden my knowledge in areas that were of interest to me.

I chose to study the humanities elective because I have always had an interest in human life and community life and the places that people fill in society. So far, I have found this course extremely interesting and rewarding. I have learned a lot more on topics and subjects that I already had an interest in, but have also learned about things that previously I didn’t have a lot of experience or knowledge in. I have so far thoroughly enjoyed learning these new things, and this along with interacting with my student friends and experiencing student life in general have been the highlights for me.

In general, most of the subjects I have studied so far have been new to me as I have been out of education for so long, but the most challenging of these new subjects has been IT. This subject has been challenging because, to be brutally honest, before this I had never turned on a computer in my life! At first I found this subject almost intimidating but I have persevered at it and put a lot of time and effort in to it and I feel I am slowly turning a corner with it and beginning to grasp it.

After completing this course I hope to be more confident to apply for jobs that interest me. I also hope that the knowledge I have gained from this course with be a positive and appreciated addition to my CV when applying for these jobs. This programme has helped me to gain a deeper understanding of subjects that were of interest to me like English and Sociology. I also believe I am beginning to understand IT more and hopefully all this will make me a more attractive candidate when applying for jobs and consequently help me to achieve my goal of getting back into the workplace.