Jenna

Standing in her graduation gown with her hard-earned BA (Hons) Social Sciences diploma in hand, Jenna Docherty has the opportunity to reflect on how far she’s come, despite the challenges she’s faced over the past four years.

“It doesn’t feel real yet. I didn’t think I’d get to this point. So, I’m really proud of myself, and I’m excited just to have this degree.”

As a first-generation student from a low-income background, Jenna has always been mindful of the financial barriers that threatened to derail her studies.

However, when she was awarded a Common Good Scholarship, it meant she would be supported financially from first year through to fourth year. Jenna could worry less about money and focus more of her energy on achieving her degree – which is exactly what she did.

“I come from a family that doesn't have a lot of money, so receiving the scholarship really helped me to buy things like a laptop, notepads and stuff I needed for studying, so it was great.

“I feel like it boosted my confidence quite a lot because I was able to get what I needed to study and achieve the grade that I got.”

During her third year, Jenna sadly lost her mother-in-law, a tragedy that left her struggling academically while she grieved.

However, with her determination to attain the degree she had worked so hard for, along with support from the GCU Foundation, Jenna managed to regain her footing and rebuild her confidence.

“That was quite challenging, and it kind of put me back because I was procrastinating all the time. But I feel like I had quite a lot of support there, and the University really helped me to kind of overcome that and continue on my academic journey.”

As a newly-grad, Jenna is hoping to take a well-deserved gap year before returning to Glasgow Caledonian to get a postgraduate degree and become a Modern Studies teacher.

But in terms of her goals for the future, the scholarship has helped her realise more than just what career she wants to pursue.

“It's definitely just made me want to be more financially stable in my life, so that I'm able to impact someone the way that this scholarship impacted me.

“I would love to give back to students, so I know for a fact that if I'm able to, I would love to help out – just because it definitely benefited me quite a lot.”