Class of 2024: Isabelle Nagle

For Isabelle Nagle, from Brentwood, higher education felt out of reach but thanks to caring and supportive tutors, as well as access to specialist support, she’s now graduating with a BA History, and looking forward to postgraduate study.

“University was never something I thought I could do. I struggled through secondary school and sixth form, and was often told by teachers that I couldn’t do things,” she explained.

Isabelle was attracted to Essex by the level of support offered to students like her, and by the “interesting and varied” history course which had “options to study various countries and time periods.”

Thanks to the helpful admissions enquiry team, who provided detailed and fast responses to her questions, she committed to Essex, and it hasn’t disappointed.

During her first year, Isabelle was diagnosed with anxiety and autism, which proved transformational for her. It enabled her to access more specialist support and funding to help her travel to and from the Colchester Campus.

But it’s her tutors, in the School of Philosophical, Historical and Interdisciplinary Studies, that have really stood out.

“Many of them have gone above and beyond to ensure that I have everything I need to attend lectures and seminars,” Isabelle explained.

“I’ve never felt like I was good at anything academically until coming to university, and no teachers I’ve had before have been as supportive or caring as many have been to me at Essex,” she added.

She singles out Professor Lucy Noakes and Professor Alison Rowlands for particular praise. With their help Isabelle, who is very sensitive to sound, gained permission to wear noise cancelling headphones in seminars and lectures, while Professor Rowlands arranged a reserved, individual desk for her.

She says her most memorable Essex experience was being told by Professor Noakes that she is “a great and hardworking student.”

Her favourite module was Professor’s Rowlands’ module on witches, witchcraft and witch-hunts.

Summing up her experience, Isabelle, who is staying at Essex to study for an MA History, said: “University has come with a lot of challenges but through perseverance, parental, and university support, I’ve been able to get through it, enjoy it and earn a degree, something I never thought possible.”