Student Stories - Provvidenza Singh

Growing up in a low-income family in South East London,?Psychology student?Provvidenza?Singh never believed University was on the cards for her.?Here she shares how she persevered through her studies after a family loss, and despite adversity – never gave up.??

?Getting a place at Aston University changed my life. I grew up on a council estate in South East London, living with hard-working immigrated parents with little money. I didn’t believe that University was on the cards for me, due to coming from a low-income family. But I knew regardless of this, I wanted to be successful and make my family proud.?

?My brother set the pace for me; he was a very successful Front-Line Sniper in the British Military. He was my inspiration in many ways – I wanted to be as good as he was in a field that I’m interested in. I always knew I wanted to help people, so when I looked into Psychology at Aston, I knew I had to get involved. My family were really excited for me to start the journey.?

?I received an Aston Alumni scholarship, which I really benefited from. I think having this extra start-up fund really helps young people like myself who come from low-income families. I was able to do a bigger food shop, buy study materials and also pay for travel tickets to go back home for the weekend – and for that, I am truly grateful.?

?Settling into my new home and the Psychology course was an experience I will never forget. The first taste of freedom, getting to know people and starting a new chapter of life are some of my best memories of being at Aston University. I was lucky to have incredible flat mates in my first year – I still speak to some of them now! We all got on so well and it felt like having a second little family.?

?However, my first year did come to a heart-wrenching pause when my six-year-old nephew passed away. This was exceptionally hard to deal with during my studies and I did contemplate giving up. I had amazing support from my friends, family and the University and I managed to do my summer exams and get into second year successfully. Experiencing any type of loss is difficult, but losing someone that meant so much to me while I was so far away from home really affected me. The only reason I didn’t give up completely was because of my nephew, Leon.?

?I picked myself back up after such a hard year. I received some counselling given to me by Aston University, which really helped me through second year. I went on to do my placement back in London when COVID-19 just hit – another hard year for all of us. I worked as a Mental Health Key Worker for Likewise Community Centre, and I gained so much knowledge and experience from this. I loved doing this placement and helping people regardless of what was going on in the world at the time. In the future, I am looking into becoming a Forensic Psychologist, or working closely with Criminal Rehabilitation. I am glad that I never gave up.?

??'Student Stories' features the stories of scholarship recipients. You can read more about the difference scholarships make to?the?lives?of students on our website here.?

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