Nurturing your creativity
Our undergraduate Criminology and Sociology student, Ada, talks about how her Loughborough journey has helped her find her creative voice
Criminology and Sociology student, Ada, has enjoyed creative writing ever since year 11, after discovering her way with words when writing short stories in English at school. Her love for spoken word began when she attended the Victory Youth Group which exposed her to opportunities creating spoken word pieces or poems.
LUArts, Loughborough University's student-focused arts programme, offers a plethora of opportunities for budding writers, poets and spoken word artists to pursue their interests. These include the popular Speech Bubble performance poetry night in Loughborough Students Union, which showcases the amazing spoken word talent on campus via open mic slots.
Ada attended one of the Speech Bubble events in her first year at Loughborough and really enjoyed it. For Ada, going to Speech Bubble was a huge step out of her comfort zone as it was her first time performing in front of an audience. Quickly growing in confidence, she was soon performing at the Round House and Wandsworth Council Chambers and taking part in a master class with Joelle Taylor and Travis Alabanza.
In her second year Ada was awarded a LUArts scholarship to enhance her creative writing skills. LUArts scholarships, which are open to all Loughborough University students, are offered to students who demonstrate ability, passion and commitment in music (instrumental, singer-songwriter/contemporary and vocal), performing arts, creative writing and spoken word, or film and media (including photography, painting, digital art, video and sound production). Each scholarship winner receives a cash prize and a tailored package of tuition or mentoring to develop their skills and knowledge further. There are also opportunities for scholars to showcase their talents during their scholarship year with performances at University events.
Now in her final year, Ada reflects on her experience, and the many useful transferable skills gained from the activities she undertook as part of her scholarship:
The LUArts scholarship had a positive impact on my time at Loughborough. It enabled me to gain more confidence within myself and my craft. It allowed me to develop public speaking and hosting skills and it enabled me to network with people within the field of spoken word and poetry. I learnt the importance of networking as I had to liaise with spoken word artists to come and perform at our open mic night event, Speech Bubble. It enhanced my multi-tasking skills as I had to host the open mic events whilst studying alongside my degree in Criminology and Sociology. Being a scholar has pushed me to write more poetry, enabling me to dedicate more time to my hobby.
Aside from her creative activities, Ada threw herself into a variety of other extracurricular activities at Loughborough that complemented her course and helped her gain other useful skills:
I got involved with the Education section in the Loughborough Students Union. I was a course representative in my first year, a peer mentor in my second year and in my final year I am the School President for the School of Social Sciences and Humanities. I was also a Times Student Ambassador and Get into Teaching Campus ambassador in my second year as well as joining the Student Ambassador cohort in my second year too. I was also a Loughborough University Arts Equality and Diversity Advisory member in my final year.
Ada’s experience on her course has widened her horizons and sparked an interest in a future career path:
My experience on my Criminology and Sociology course has been great. The content that we learnt in our Sociology modules has been insightful and informative. I also liked the fact that we had options to choose psychology, media, and politics modules. I chose psychology and media modules as they were very engaging. In my final year I have really enjoyed the criminology modules especially Rehabilitation and Recovery, it was an eye opener into the aftermath of prisoners and has sparked a future career interest within me. My plan is to do a master's within the field of criminology, criminal justice, and criminal law.
Ada is a passionate advocate of extra-curricular activities and encourages students to seize all opportunities at University to pursue their creative side alongside their undergraduate study:
I would recommend students pursue creative opportunities at university through LUArts which offer various workshops, scholarships, and programmes that you can be a part of. You don’t need to be studying anything creative, if you have an interest or you’d like to try something new, there are creative opportunities available at Loughborough.
New Beginnings
By Ada Ughanwa
As we leave the downs that locked us before,
We wait in eagerness to see what’s to come
The world as we know it, has changed its face whilst we sit at home waiting for another day
A day that seems so far yet it’s so close to come, our days will soon feel like days.
We will cherish every moment that we are out with nature, we will hug and appreciate our loved ones
We will look to the stars with no care in the world because we know that our time has come.
Cheers to July 19th, you are the beginning yet the end of life as we know it.
Here’s to new beginnings.
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