Natalie Atkinson

Natalie Atkinson was the judges choice for Student of the Year 2014 for her inspiring story

Natalie Atkinson was the judges choice for Student of the Year 2014 for her inspiring story

NEW-NUS-Awards-2014-winnerEndsleigh Student of the Year

 

University of Cumbria Students’ Union

“Natalie’s story is frankly inspirational. Between the ages of 13 and 18, Natalie lived in no fewer than 25 different addresses, with over 50 convictions for battery and assault and spending time under sentence in both secure children’s units, and later, prison. Living with rapists, murderers and drug dealers led to depression, addiction to Subutex (a heroin substitute) and self-harm. Despite a troubled background and difficult upbringing, Natalie overcame all of these issues after her release to embark on a degree in policing, investigation and criminology at the University of Cumbria. She has now been accepted to study a Master’s degree in Criminology at the London School of Economics in September 2014 – quite a remarkable journey, one which has enabled her to turn her life around.

“I think in order to understand your past, you’ve got to face your past and you’ve got to understand the effect your behaviour has had on other people,” says Natalie. She is now committed to helping young people who are in a similar position to the one she overcame so recently. “I’d like to see us focus more on restorative justice, where the offender is encouraged to take responsibility for their actions, as well as providing more support for troubled adults within the community to help them achieve, rather than just putting them in prison, releasing them and expecting them to turn their life around.”

Her positive attitude and commitment to her studies has transformed Natalie’s life, and the future looks incredibly bright for her. Multiple nominations for this year’s UCSU Success Awards brought Natalie’s story to our attention at UCSU. She was also recently the subject of a BBC TV documentary, ‘Banged up and left to fail,’ which was aired in April on the BBC 3 channel. You can read more of her story in greater detail at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-26825569

We’re incredibly proud to have Natalie as a member of UCSU, and wish her every success when she embarks on her Master’s at LSE. A truly inspirational woman, and a fine example of how anything is possible, regardless of background, mistakes and whatever has gone before. Congratulations Natalie, from all at UCSU.

“It wasn’t until I’d taken responsibility for my actions and accepted I’d done wrong that I started to change and I think everyone can use their own life experience to actually do something positive.” Natalie Atkinson, BBC interview, April 2014.”

Nominated by Adam Lewis, Students’ Union Staff

What some of the judges said…

“This is a remarkable story of real turnaround in Natalie’s own life as well as also supporting others to do the same. Natalie has broken down traditional barriers and make negative experiences work for her in a positive light. An absolutely inspirational to any student but particularly those from similar or non-traditional educational backgrounds and Natalie has actively opened the door to study for those with challenging upbringings.” Kim McGuinness, Endsleigh

 

Some comments from the night…