An ‘outdoorsy’ City of Bristol College student has praised the ‘passion’ of her teachers who supported her in her Outdoor Sport course.
Rachel Millar, aged 20, joined the college in 2018 when she was 18 after she decided A Levels were not for her.
She heard about the college from her friends who already attended here, who told her how much they ‘enjoyed’ the courses they were studying.
She said: “I have always been an outdoorsy person, so I knew I wanted to do a course related to that. Outdoor Sports isn’t always provided at colleges so it is great that there was something I was interested in and so local.”
The Outdoor Sports course is a two-year course which sees students complete a range of different activities including rock climbing, caving, canoeing, kayaking and more.
Rachel said she loved how ‘practical’ the course was and how often her group were ‘out and about’.
She added: “I loved my course and the college, it was so nice for me as I work two jobs so it was great to have some time off in the week and focus on learning some new skills.
“We also had a lot of freedom in the second year to choose which trips we wanted to go on and where we wanted to go. We also had a lot of opportunities to get qualifications in certain sports and this has helped me so much outside of college too.”
Rachel is currently working as an outdoor instructor as well as in a local supermarket and hopes to save money to travel the world – when coronavirus allows it. My experience from my instruction job will help me to get jobs in outdoor pursuits as I travel.
“Before I go, I also hope to complete a Level 1 Cave Leader qualification as this is something which we have been working towards in college and I would love to complete”.
Rachel praised the support she received throughout her two years at the college, from both teachers and her own peers.
She added: “If one of us had an idea, our teachers would help us to plan it and see if we could make it happen. In the theory side of the course, teachers were easy to contact if you had any questions and always there to help. You could tell they were passionate about the subject and this really helped us to have more fun and learn a lot more.”
Find out more about the Outdoor Sport course, entry requirements and what the course covers here.
To keep our students and staff safe, we’re reducing the number of people in our buildings at one time. To achieve this most of our courses will include sessions taught at the college supported by online learning to help you reach your full potential. Find out more about how we’ve adapted due to COVID-19.