Sammy's story

"My aim is to be a neuropsychologist."

I won a Nando’s voucher the other day in a raffle. To enter you had to draw three stages of your time at Essex so far. For my first year I drew a picture of my family with me far away from them, crying because I was sad. For my second year I drew music chords because I started choir and singing. And in my third year I drew a cap and a gown as I hope to graduate!

I was sad because of my brother. He had a brain haemorrhage and was out of school for two years. He stayed at the Children’s Trust and had to learn everything again from scratch, including walking and talking. He was really strong and it was actually him who inspired me to study Cognitive Neuroscience instead of Politics, which is what I originally planned to do.

So now my aim is to be a neuropsychologist. I’d like to help people who have had brain haemorrhages or spinal cord injuries. I also want to help rehabilitate them and to support their families too. Now my brother is applying to universities, so seeing him being able to transform his life is my main motivation.

I need to remember to relax though and not to be so tense. I put myself under so much pressure, but I think I should let time take its course and enjoy the experience more.