Class of 2013 graduates from the School of Social Sciences

118 students graduated from Bangor University’s School of Social Sciences on Monday, 15th July 2013.Eira WinrowEira Winrow

This year saw 15 undergraduates finishing with First Class degrees, all of whom were awarded prizes of £20 gift vouchers by Head of School, Dr Catherine Robinson.

One of those was mature student Eira Winrow, who studied the BA in Health & Social Care and Social Policy. “The course has really challenged me on many levels. As a mature student, I never thought I would achieve so much academically, and the course has also made me question my opinions of society and the world around me”, says Eira, from Bangor, who will return to the university in September to begin an MA in Social Policy.

Sophie HughesSophie HughesAlso graduating with First Class degrees were Sophie Hughes and Sioned Williams, both students on the Welsh-language BA in Sociology and Social Policy. “My main reason for choosing Bangor was the excellent provision for Welsh-medium study”, says Sophie, from Morfa Bychan. “I had never studied the subject before so it was a risk, but a risk that paid off – I certainly made the right decision, and my time at Bangor has been the best three years of my life.”

“The support from the lecturers has been fantastic”, added Sioned Williams, Sophie’s classmate on the School’s Welsh-medium degree. “They were always ready to help, be that face to face or over email. I loved the course – class sizes were comparatively small, meaning we as students developed a close relationship with our lecturers. On top of this, the topics studied were very interesting and varied.” Both Sophie and Sioned will return to Bangor in September to study the School’s MA in Language Policy and Planning.Sioned WilliamsSioned Williams

Rhys TaylorRhys TaylorJoint honours student Rhys Taylor, from Pontypridd, studied Social Policy alongside History. “I loved my course because it allowed me to study things that I was genuinely interested in, and there was so much choice in terms of modules”, says Rhys, who hopes to go on to have a career in research and policy development. “The best thing about both the School of Social Sciences and the School of History was that the majority of my lecturers had practical experience or had conducted research in the areas in which they taught.”

Publication date: 16 July 2013