Next Steps South West provided impartial information and support to a local student who will now be the first in his family to enter higher education
Taylor Keno, who currently attends Eggbuckland Community College in Plymouth, will be an undergraduate student from September 2020 following offers from the University of Plymouth and the University of Exeter.
After multiple interventions from the Next Steps South West team, including workshops, motivational talks, and one-to-one support, Taylor navigated his path to higher education. The topics Taylor covered included: student finance, careers advice, student life, and a masterclass in forensic science.
It was the forensic science experience that sparked the link between Taylor’s love of biology and the possibility of studying forensics at university, and motivational talks hosted at City College Plymouth inspired Taylor to think more about his future.
“When I was at the start of year 10, I wasn’t thinking about what I would do after school, but I found the workshops and talks I attended really started to get me thinking about higher education and about how the costs and finance work.”
Taylor, who is from a large, single parent family, received additional support in the form of a travel card, enabling him to attend open days and a UCAS exhibition. Here, he was able to ask thoughtful questions and find out more about the different study options available.
“I used the Next Steps South West Travel Card to help fund me to attend a university open day which meant I could go with my mum so that she could find out what uni life was like as well. This gave me confidence about applying and possibly moving away from home.”
Since applying through UCAS, Taylor has received two offers for university and is excited about what his future holds.
