Alumni Spotlight: Sam
"I remember most the residentials, with the opportunity to experience stretching and enriching lectures, activities and tasks in a friendly and warmly academic environment."
Sam Coleman, an English Teacher and Local District Councillor, joined the Villiers Park Scholars Programme over a decade ago. Through mentoring, residentials, and university visits, he discovered how to embrace opportunities and chart his own path, with lessons from Villiers Park that continue to guide his diverse career across acting, politics, and education.
Would you say that your interaction with Villiers Park helped you in any way to achieve your career now?
Having had a number of different careers since being a Villiers Park Scholar, from acting to politics to teaching, it’s fair to say I didn’t follow the traditional path of heading straight to university and into a career.
But what I did do was embrace opportunities, reflect on my own interests and skills, and discover a path forward that works for me. Without the broad horizon I developed through Villiers Park, I am not sure that I would have pushed or pursued opportunities in quite the same way.
What advice would you give to young people as they start on their career journey?
You don’t need to know what you want to become, just what you like and what you are good at. Learn to sell that well, with confidence, and you will find doors opening for you.
The gaps and weaknesses can be ironed out as you go, and the autonomous self development skills and embracing of academic rigour that Villiers Park fosters is going to help you a great deal with that.
