Tag Archives: Birkbeck

Discovering the self-belief that never was

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Oliver Victorio, inspired by his time at the House of Commons, overcame a number of obstacles, including; disability, financial hardship and lack of confidence to begin a degree at Birkbeck. This week he graduated with a BA Politics, Philosophy and History and the Dakin ‘Best Birkbeck Student’ 2019-20 Prize, this is his #BBKgrad story.  

Oliver Victorio

Oliver Victorio

The Journey to Birkbeck: From the Corridors of Power to the Classroom of Politics

Before attending Birkbeck, I was an MP attendant in the House of Commons, which is parliamentary parlance for being the odd jobs person for MPs’ needs. It had been a memorable time that made me hungry to want to progress my career, although I was not sure exactly what I wanted to do, I did know that I would need a degree to get it.  So, when the voluntary redundancy was offered, I took it to begin a new journey.

After taking on a few more jobs, I eventually I applied for a BA in Politics, Philosophy and History and was delighted when I was invited for an interview. I was elated to receive an ‘unconditional offer’, and immediately shared the glorious news with my wife, the one person who had been there throughout the entire journey. Three years later I would find myself with a first-class degree and the recipient of the Dakin ‘Best Birkbeck Student’ 2019-20 Prize for achieving excellence despite circumstances of hardship – a fitting description of my entire journey.

The First Year: Dim Lights, Dyslexia and Distinctions

Getting back into intense study would take some getting used to. I found understanding what I was reading was the first major obstacle for me – it would often take me hours to get through one assigned reading.  It was only later in the first term that I would discover, due to Birkbeck’s prompting and immense support, for which I am grateful, that I had dyslexia and dyscalculia, despite my intelligence.

Oliver Victorio

Oliver Victorio

This explained my earlier struggles with learning at school and my mixed results, all of which contributed to my lack of confidence – and eventual withdrawal from the educational system. I remember it would take me an enormous amount of time to just read through the required reading, let alone essay writing.

Once I realised this, I attended a lot of study skills workshops, and disability support, and I found these to be pivotal to my success. One thing about Birkbeck that I have found to be exceptional, alongside their teaching, was the enormous amount of support that is available, both in terms of the plethora of support workshops, but also from the teaching staff.

What’s more, at the time, I lived in a basement studio flat, too small to accommodate a family, with very little room to study. It was difficult to find time to study in the daytime with a then three-year-old to care for, so I would wake up at 5am to squeeze in a few hours of study in my dimly lit bathroom while the house was quiet. I endured this back-breaking situation for the entire first year of study.

Yet, despite this, all my perseverance with reading, deep thinking and re-writing paid off – I struck gold with my very first essay, attaining a distinction mark for the Study of Politics. I was so astonished. In my second essay, I got another distinction mark and more in the second term. I was absolutely stunned – I simply could not believe it. It was unreal that, after all these years of struggle, I was even capable of that.

The Final Year: My Best Results Ever

My final year brought more struggles. The COVID-19 pandemic had begun, which required me to juggle homeworking and home-schooling but that didn’t stop me, I would continue to achieve a distinction in my coursework! I was absolutely awestruck. I still am. It just never seemed that such a thing was even remotely possible for me, given my learning difficulties, and my struggles with confidence and communication over the years.

Final Thoughts

My entire experience at Birkbeck, with the phenomenal network of support – teaching staff, study skills tutors, personal tutors, disability support, administrative staff, and library staff – were absolutely vital in making my success a reality. Despite all the seemingly insurmountable obstacles that I had faced, from being accepted onto the degree, to getting through it, I feel like I am finally on the path that I should have been on many years before.

A new life is now a real possibility, where I can provide for my family and steer them away from the life that I had experienced. Birkbeck has made this possible. As the great scientist Sir Isaac Newton eloquently put, I was ‘standing on the shoulders of Giants’. I am forever indebted and will never forget. A new journey now awaits- one that I have been searching for all my life.

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Virtual Beatles in London tour

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La Young Jackson, Liason Officer (International) shares details of a virtual Beatles tour of London that Birkbeck students enjoyed earlier this year.

Beatles Tour London

Beatles Tour London

In July we had two special virtual tours exploring the history of The Beatles in London. Our guide Andrew has presented his Beatles London Walking Tour to international students for many years, but this year due to COVID-19 was the first time he did them online as a virtual experience.

Andrew prefers to call himself a Beatles fan rather than an expert, but he impressed students with his knowledge both of the ‘Fab Four’, and of London. ‘The Beatles are my favourite group, and London is my favourite city, so taking students on the tour is always a huge pleasure’ he says. ‘Most people know that the Beatles came from Liverpool, but in fact, during their time together as a band, they all lived in London, and all their records were recorded here, at the famous Abbey Road Studios. Two of the Beatles, Paul and Ringo, were married in London – no not to each other, to their wives!’

Leading the tour online presented both challenges and opportunities. ‘I wanted to create the feeling that we’re really taking a walk through London together, so I filmed not just the places with Beatles history, but also the walking segments in-between, using these as an opportunity to chat with attendees and answer questions, just as I would on a real tour. But being online made it easier to present video clips and audio, which can be quite difficult on busy London streets’.

Andrew presented the tours as Part 1 & Part 2 on separate days, such is the wealth of locations in London connected to the Beatles’ professional and personal lives. Both tours finished at Abbey Road studios, with its iconic traffic crossing. Students expressed a high level of satisfaction with both events and praised Andrew’s friendly and knowledgeable presentation.

Birkbeck students embark on virtual tour of the City of London

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While we’ve been unable to head out and explore our capital city in person, Birkbeck students toured the historic City of London virtually with the help of guide Tim Kidd.

Picture of the City of London

Whilst we would all love to be together in person, Birkbeck is bringing London to its international student community.

On Thursday 26 June, Birkbeck students were treated to a fascinating virtual tour through the historic City of London.

Courtesy of Tim Kidd, a member of the British Guild of Tour Guides, the Birkbeck community was brought together to explore London’s ancient origins. As Tim explained throughout the event, the City of London has a vibrant and varied history which tells the story of our famous capital. From the Bank of England to the walls of the Tour, Tim was able to explain London’s Roman roots and their role in shaping the world of finance today.

For many of Birkbeck’s students, the City offers world-class employment prospects and a foothold into the world of banking, trading and insurance. The City of London is today regarded as one of the major financial capitals of the world, and with good reason. Tim’s tour told the tale of the City of London, exploring why it is so such a unique place within the UK and Europe. At the end of the tour, an insightful Q&A session followed.

With the international situation evolving rapidly, it’s as important as ever that Birkbeck continues to adapt its student experience. Indeed, we very much look forward to hosting more engaging virtual tours in the future.

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Birkbeck and Heritage Lottery: working together to build Newham resident’s social media skills

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Birkbeck’s Access and Engagement work to provide people who face additional barriers to accessing higher education with advice, guidance and free dip-in learning opportunities. The Department works with a lot of community partners and this year has been developing a programme of volunteering with professional services staff so that our non-academic colleagues can share their expertise with community organisations and residents in east London.

While planning our outreach work for Newham Heritage Month, the Heritage Lottery Foundation approached us to ask whether anyone at Birkbeck could help deliver a session to local community groups about how to use social media to promote their events. I straight away headed to the Comms team and asked them whether they’d be interested in getting involved!

I’ll hand over now to Jessica and Rebekah to tell you more about their experience with the Heritage Lottery- thank you both! We are still looking for volunteers across the College to deliver online content, so if you are interested in getting involved email Hester at getstarted@bbk.ac.uk.

Birkbeck, Stratford campus

We work in the communications team in Birkbeck. A typical day for us would be coming up with ideas and making content that is shared on our social media channels. Content can range from blogs, to videos to infographics and images and features staff, students and the occasional owl. We are often behind a screen (or camera), so we were keen to volunteer for this skill-sharing opportunity with some of the London Borough of Newham’s residents.

We decided to get involved because we wanted to assist the local community with developing their ideas on how to showcase their events to their audiences. Together we came up with a workshop that we hoped would introduce attendees to social media and help them start thinking of ways they can interact with existing and new audiences.

Social media can feel a bit overwhelming to someone who doesn’t use it in a professional capacity, so we hoped that we would be able to give practical steps that could help attendees promote their events. We also saw it as an opportunity to get out of the office and improve our communication skills and practice public speaking!

The session took place in Stratford Library, across the road from our Stratford Campus. The group varied in age, gender, and background and were all looking to learn how they can promote and run their events throughout Newham Heritage Month.

On arrival we were met by a room full of attendees, a positive start! We were introduced by Jan who had organised and facilitated the session. Our presentation opened with a brief introduction to Birkbeck and a chance for the attendees to write down and share their questions and intentions for the session.

We then talked them through the various social media platforms and demonstrated the best ways to showcase content on each of them.  We shared thoughts on how to write blogs to generate more content that can be shared on social media. Attendees were engaged and asked questions, so the session felt interactive.

To conclude, we referred to the questions posed to us. It was affirming to know that we were able to answer the questions and hopefully, we were able to put people’s minds at ease as they take their first steps into the world of social media.

Overall, the experience was great as it gave us the opportunity to reflect on what we do and the skills we have gained through our roles and then impart our knowledge on people who are making a difference in their community.