Teaching the Future for Edinburgh College Student
Nineteen-year-old Iona Ralph from Edinburgh wants to inspire the next generation by becoming a Physical Education (PE) teacher after College. Iona is well on her way to achieving that dream after being awarded Academic Excellence Award for Sport and Fitness.
We caught up with the former Boroughmuir High School pupil to find out about her college experience so far.
“I feel very honoured that I have been chosen to receive this award. I decided to study at Edinburgh College as the course sounded interesting and I felt it fitted around my other sporting commitments.
One of the highlights to take from this year has been the amount I have grown in confidence in certain sports I was nervous about participating in.
I faced some challenges during my studies, and one of the recent ones was covering another coach’s tennis training sessions which meant I had to lead a team of teenagers on numerous occasions without being given much notice. This situation pushed me out of my comfort zone due to the age of the kids and not having a lot of time to ahead of the sessions for planning. Through the experience, I drew on the personal knowledge I had gained through the numerous years of playing and being coached tennis.
If I was to give one piece of advice to a student starting college now, it would be to be organised and plan in advance. Make sure you manage your time well so you can meet deadlines.
I am hoping to progress through the courses at the College and possibly go on to further study at university. In the future, I want to become a PE teacher.
Looking back the only thing I would change is participating in more sports clubs. Other than that, I am proud of my time at college which helped me improve my confidence and ability to deal with challenging situations.”
