Graduate Feedback
The feedback from graduates is testimony to Columba 1400’s success in helping to change lives:
Hello Lucy, Guy, Stevie, Susan, April, Sporting Boys, Cooking People, Office Mummies and Cleaning Angels(not forgetting Teegan and Ruth the body)!
I am just writing to thank you for one of the most empowering experiences of my life! It was totally unexpected and like a bolt from the blue! Lots of thunderstorms,lightning, flash floods and deep, calm waters! I sneak looks at my mug and am always very pleased with it. However, even if it had ended up looking like a mug painted in muddy puddle colours the process that led to its creation was a revelation in itself. I have managed to jildy my sixth year pupils into standing up and acting out Macbeth with great gusto and I just feel so much more relaxed and focused as I stop fighting with my comic twin.
It was lovely being given the opportunity to build up a deep and abiding trust in such a supportive and empowering environment and it is something I shall always cherish. Hope the hoolies are impressive and that your roofs are sound!
Rosemary, Greenock Academy
“I found that I had a lot more confidence than I thought. This made me see the good in me, which made me see the good in others. I went up there bitter with what had happened in my past. I left knowing that I had the strength to achieve whatever I set my mind to.”
Young person, YPLA
“I’m very clear that it all started with Columba 1400… it gave us a strong start to change things…
It gave the children the confidence to demonstrate to their peers that the students could be involved in making positive changes in the school. It’s been one of the most positive things that the school has been involved in.”
Head Teacher, East Ayrshire
“I found the experience life changing, absolutely amazing and I’m so grateful for the opportunity.”
Young person, Wester Hailes Education Centre
“One of the most important things I’ve learned here is courage – more courage to do things, more courage to say “no,” more courage to stand up for what I think is right. I hope that I can use what I’ve learned here to help my community and my family. This is where the hard work starts, and where my life starts again.”
Participant, Inverclyde Community Drugs Team
“The experience has been emotional, fulfilling and unbelievable. Like everybody else, I didn’t know what I was getting into – I’ve seen things in me that maybe I didn’t want to see before, and I’ve seen things in me that I didn’t think were possible. I have plans in my head that, I know, because of this week I will be able to fulfil.”
Parent participant – A Stitch In Time Programme
“It was a lot of work – I’ve never done that much work in my life. When I came here, if I knew I was going to do all that work, I wouldn’t have come – but now I’m proud I came because I’ve done loads of work and I got something in return. I’m a totally different person now. I’ve learned that if you’re given a big opportunity like this, take it, because you might not get another opportunity like it in your life again.”
Young person – Cyrenians, provider of solutions to poverty and homelessness
“I think I’ll be able to help all my friends when I go back – 12 of us have got the full benefit of the experience, so we can go back and help other people as much as we can. When I got told that this would be a life changing experience, I thought “they’re just saying that,” but actually it has been such a big thing.”
Young person, Greenock Academy