Help Lauren Become A Journalist
I'm Lauren Brown, I went to a state school in Billingham (a small town in North East England) before coming to Cambridge, and I want to bring you a better kind of journalism. (I've spoken at length about this here .)
A couple of weeks ago I received an offer on an amazing, renowned journalism course at Cardiff University. I felt elated and accomplished with all of the trimmings—until I realised that no longer were drive and determination (or, if I may say, talent) enough to get ahead; I realised that I couldn't afford it. Hard work was enough to ensure the financial support from Cambridge to do my undergraduate degree, but as time rolls on my image of meritocracy is replaced by a scarier truth—trying to think about my future I constantly run into talk about nepotism, contacts and career progression.
"...do you have any contacts in the industry?"
"No, that's why I came to you, Careers Advisor."
"Oh. Well... *awkward laugh*"
Ironically, my passion is social justice and I want to build the platform to speak up about the disparity in educational opportunity in economically and socially underprivileged communities. I want to develop skills and to gain knowledge and contacts to make my ambition feasible. This is why I need this course, and this is also why I probably can’t do it.
I'm not prepared to accept the impossibility of so called 'social climbing,' and I will keep working hard, whether this means taking out a loan or working in a shop over Summer. But alongside my hard work I've always relied on the generosity of others to help me along the way. This generosity has been invaluable, supremely heartening and something I will absolutely never forget.
I'm driven and passionate about social change and feel capable of becoming a brilliant journalist, and although I'm fully aware of the innumerable causes out there so much worthier of consideration, if you have anything at all to spare it would give me the leg up I need to prove, mostly to myself, that economic barriers can be overcome, and important dialogues and voices can be heard.
The course in magazine journalism which I will hopefully be joining starts this September, and any money raised would go towards helping me live in Wales for the year. I've written an article which means a great deal to me and it explains in much greater detail the reasons for starting this GoFundMe. Please, please do read it.
Thank you!
Lauren x
https://medium.com/@laurenrbrown95/this-isnt-a-meritocracy-so-here-s-my-new-plan-9d3787ad8b34
