Mums’ degree of hard work
Three students who all fell pregnant and gave birth while in the middle of their degrees at Sunderland University have graduated.
Marie Hinds, Claire Fulcher and Stacey Walters all had their own personal reasons to make the decision to return to higher education.
The first year of their public health degrees were challenging, however, by the second year the adult learners had coincidently all fallen pregnant within weeks of each other.
They all took a leave of absence to have their babies, then returned to complete the programme with impressive results and graduated at the university’s annual award ceremonies this week, receiving their awards from Chancellor Steve Cram.
Stacey, 23, from Sunderland, said: “It was challenging because I was pregnant all of the second year, and had a baby boy, Lochlan, in the third year, I also have another six-year-old boy.”
Stacey now plans to complete a Masters in Public Health and work in the area of community health, helping people with drug and alcohol problems.
Former nursery nurse Marie, 38, from Newcastle, applied to study at university after being a stay-at-home mum to her seven children for 10 years. She said: “I found out I was pregnant with my son Grayson just before starting my second year and knowing that those grades counted towards my final marks, I wanted to stay at university for as long as possible and made sure I delivered my final presentation just seven days before giving birth.”
Marie will now begin a Midwifery Postgraduate Diploma at Northumbria University. Claire, 28, from Bedlington, in Northumberland decided to swap her day job in a call centre for a career in healthcare.
She said: “After completing my second year pregnant and third year with a newborn, it’s sounds cheesy, but I’m actually really proud of myself for completing and achieving a 2:1.”
Claire is applying for a Masters in Psychology with a view to working in the area of Health Psychology in the future.