Emily, Agriculture Level 2

Meet Emily, Agriculture Level 2 Student. Emily shares her student journey, her experience of living at Merrist Wood in student accommodation and how she is shaping her career.

Can you tell us about yourself, and how you decided to study Agriculture at Merrist Wood?

I went to school in London. I was always thinking about doing either agriculture or photography. It took me a while to make up my mind.

I did lots of research, I was searching agriculture courses and my school were putting up lists of different colleges I could go to. I decided to come here at Easter this year to look around and after that, I knew I definitely wanted to come here. During the visit, the tutors I met were really nice and lambing season was going on, so I got to meet some of the lambs. I wanted to come here because you’re outside doing practical work with the animals.

I also went to see the accommodation and now I live here! It’s good living here, people here are really nice.

Can you explain why you decided to live here, and what it’s been like?

The college is a 50 minute car journey from where I live and my parents wouldn’t be able to take me so it’s a lot easier for me to stay. Staying here has helped me make a lot of friends and you settle in well even before you go to the college to have lessons. Everyone just clicked with each other.

The staff run activities quite a lot throughout the week, sometimes we might do animal handling or games or movie nights. We do homework club and sometimes we do woodland walks. You can always suggest what you want to do too. You get a nice room with a sink and I can decorate it how I want.

What is it like to study Agriculture at Merrist Wood?

I’m finding my course really good, I’m happy that I chose it – it’s really fun. It feels like I’ve always been here. My favourite thing is being with the animals, and outside.

I particularly like sheep husbandry and farm production – learning about all the breeding and different types of animals you can get.

I’ve done a week’s work experience on a dairy farm so far, in Reigate. That was a good experience because I’ve never really done farming so it was a good starting point. I will be applying to more. My tutors have helped us write cover letters and application forms, and they check it through before so it’s good practice. They can always help you if you need it.

I’ve learnt a lot already from the tutors and they’re so supportive.

What are your plans for the future?

I’ll work hard to get onto the next level at Merrist Wood (Agriculture Level 3) and after that I’ll go straight into farm work with live stock. One day when I’ve got enough money and experience I want to have my own farm and I can always bring in the photography as well.