Inspiring Guest Speakers Talk Mental Health, Knife-crime and Future Careers with Students
Hearing from inspirational voices from the local community, as well as industry-experienced experts is an important part of student life at North Notts College. Students from across all curriculum areas hear from guest speakers throughout their time at College, where their experiences, knowledge and backgrounds help shape the students’ education.
The end of February saw several guest speakers visit students from the Sport and Public Services courses at North Notts College. Anthony Olaseinde, award-winning anti-knife crime activist and founder of Always an Alternative, started off the guest talks with an inspirational talk on the destruction that knife crime causes and how young people can avoid a non-violent path.
Brandon Moore, Public Services Level 2 student, spoke about how Anthony’s story helped him understand the damaging role of knife crime in society.
He said: “I really enjoyed hearing Anthony talk. The fact that he is speaking from his own experiences and real-life situations puts it all in perspective and made me think about the amount of knife crime there is.”
Ensuring the safety of young people and other members of society is a crucial part of Anthony’s message and one which the second guest speaker for the day, Darren Birch echoed in his talk. As a former police officer, Darren spoke to Public Service students (many of whom have ambitions within the Police Force) about his experiences in the Force.
Having joined the Police Force at the age of 20, Darren was forced to retire in 2018 after being declared medically retired, following nearly 14 years of service. He spoke about his day-to-day experiences on the job and how the students could best prepare themselves for a job that centres around keeping people and communities safe.
Level 2 Public Services student, Emma Seagrave, who wants to pursue a career in either the Police Force or the RAF, commented on Darren’s talk and how important it is to hear from people who have worked in the field.
She said: “I really enjoyed hearing Darren’s story. It’s so great to be able to hear from someone who has experience of working as a police officer every day, for such a long time.”
The final guest speakers for the day were a former professional football player and Kixx franchise owner Jamie Green and fellow Kixx franchise owner Tom Butterworth. The pair discussed their careers in sport and gave their top tips on how to make it in the competitive sporting world, including advice on CVs, making connections and the right working attitude.
Find out more about our Sport and Public Services Courses.