ELLIE ROSE

As part of Refugee Week 2023, we spoke to graduate Ellie Rose below who has recently started a new role in her dream career. Ellie describes the importance of supporting asylum seekers and how we can welcome those seeking refuge to our communities.

Tell us a little bit about your time at USW and what you do now.

At USW, I studied English, Creative Writing and TESOL. Now, almost a year after graduating, I work as a holistic Careers Coach for asylum seekers and refugees at REACH.

What has your career journey been like since graduating?

After graduating, I continued to work with Peartree Language School in Cardiff, a school that I had started to work with online during covid. I worked on social media, communications and eventually became Operations Assistant for their ELEA 2022 summer school. I am so looking forward to working at ELEA again this summer, but I still find myself drawn to ESOL, so here I am!

Why did you decide to start working with people seeking asylum?

I started working with asylum seekers and refugees in my first few weeks at university through various conversational and creative projects. During these projects, I had some of the most humbling experiences of my life so far – and gained some lifelong friends.

How can we help to integrate and welcome refugees to our community?

Before working with refugees and asylum seekers at university, I admit, it wasn't a community that I knew much about (if anything!)

So for me, there are two ways to contribute to the community:

A) Educate yourself (and others!)

There is such a negative stigma attached to asylum seekers and refugees but in my experience, this has never proven to be rooted in anything. In fact, asylum seekers and refugees continue to prove to be the absolute opposite.

B) Volunteer

If you have an hour a week or a few days, contact your local ESOL department or refugee charity to see how you can help.

What are your career goals?

With my current role ending next Spring, I have a part-time PGCE with USW lined up already. Apart from that, I'm learning that going with the flow is okay, too.

The one thing I do aspire to is having happiness in a career – the same happiness that I have now.

Of course there are targets to meet and boxes to tick, but there is one thing that I REALLY want to achieve in my current role: I want to be wandering through Cardiff on a Saturday afternoon, I want to be able to walk into a shop and recognise the person behind the counter and remember the time when I helped them prepare for the job interview of the position that they are in now.