Alix Barclay Beatt

What's your long term ambition?

From completing both my undergrad and PGDE, I aim to pursue my career as a Home Economics secondary teacher. This has been the aim since the start of my undergraduate degree and it's exciting to know I am on the right path to achieving this! In the future I also hope to complete my Masters qualification in Education to allow me to further progress in the education sector. I also aim to continue growing my knowledge around food, nutrition and fitness throughout my career as this is my passion.

How are you feeling now that your time at Abertay has come to an end?

It is sort of a bitter sweet feeling. I have truly loved my time at Abertay and I am upset that I will no longer be expanding my knowledge with the lectures and students at Abertay. My undergraduate degree has been such a positive experience, even when having to complete half of the degree remotely due to the pandemic. However, I am excited to start the next part of my academic journey and experience a new University and a different way of learning.

Why did you decide to study at Abertay?

The main thing that drew me to Abertay was the uniqueness and variety of courses. For me specifically, the degree I chose is unique to Abertay and allowed me to combine both fitness and nutrition which are my two main interests. Combining subject areas is something I think Abertay does very well, allowing its students to develop extensive knowledge in different areas and realise how they can affect each other. I was also attracted to the smaller campus. Going to a large University seemed a bit overwhelming and Abertay seemed like more of a small community, which I liked.

What were the highlights of your time at Abertay?

The main highlight for me at Abertay was honestly just getting to know my lecturers and learning from them. The lecturers are so passionate about their research and subject areas and they inspire you to be passionate about them too! My experiences learning from my lecturers has grown my interest in the areas of nutrition and fitness and has made me want to continue growing my knowledge. Due to the pandemic, unfortunately I did not get to take part in a lot of extra-curricular activities, but if I did I'm sure this would have been a major highlight.

How did you find having to move to online learning due to COVID-19?

I found it difficult not seeing those other students in my classes and being able to learn together with them. I think my university experience in terms of building new relationships, growing team working and confidence skills did suffer, however this was no fault of anyone. In contrast to this I do actually think working remotely gave me more time to work on my studies and actually benefited my academic performance. So I think there were positives and negatives to the situation. I think adjusting to the transition of going back to in person learning was more difficult, trying to manage my time effectively and get back into the in person lecture style was a little challenging. As much as I did enjoy it, I did struggle with this adjustment after working from my bedroom for so long!