Mum-to-be admits degree of nerves

Graduation day is normally a day of celebration for students after the anxieties of their final exams.

But today will be a nervy experience for Abertay University student Katie Brogan who is also due to give birth to her first child.

Katie will join around 800 Abertay graduates at the Caird Hall in Dundee for today’s ceremonies.

The 21-year-old only discovered she was pregnant in April but still completed her studies.

The Kirkcaldy mum-to-be, who joined Abertay after a college course in hospitality management, said she had received great support from her classmates and academic staff since discovering a baby boy was on the way.

Family members and Katie’s engineer boyfriend, Scott Donaldson, 22, will be at today’s ceremony, watching with both pride and half an eye on the clock.

“I didn’t find out until I was 28 weeks so it was a bit of a shock to say the least,” said Katie.

“It’s a bit scary because I keep thinking that I’m going to be in the Caird Hall and then have to make a quick dash to leave.

“But I’m really delighted I managed to stick with it and finish my degree because I will always have it to my name.”

Katie is scheduled to give birth at Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy.

Her ceremony will be the second of two held today as the university’s schools of Arts, Media and Computer Games; Science, Engineering and Technology; and Social and Health Sciences and Dundee Business School all honour their students.

Honorary graduates include Dundee entrepreneur Chris van der Kuyl, trauma expert Professor David Alexander and nursing expert Professor Laura Serrant.