Stephen Harbour
When an accident ended Stephen’s career as a labourer, he lost his job, his home and his direction. Taking the step to re-enter education ignited a passion for learning, and 10 years on he has a CV he is proud of and ambitions for his future.
It was staff at the homeless shelter who suggested that Stephen look into courses at Canterbury College’s community learning centre. Although he hadn’t enjoyed school and had no other education experience, he began a basic IT, E3 literacy and numeracy course. As he progressed his confidence grew and he began to seek out new opportunities, enrolling in further courses and eventually deciding that he wanted to do more with computers.
Stephen began a Level 3 CISCO ICND 1 course, a sign of his new confidence and ambition for his future. He progressed to CISCO ICND 2, and in January 2014 he fulfilled a longstanding ambition and moved into his own flat. He has now identified more courses that will help him realise another dream of a career teaching IT to others.
Nominating Stephen, Jan Hughes of Canterbury College said: “Stephen has used his new found confidence and skills to inspire others. He has brought several of his friends to the College learning centre telling them that learning can turn their lives around.”
Stephen said: “Learning as a mature student has made me realise that teaching would be a wonderful career to follow. I am making enquiries about volunteering as an IT/ Cisco Certified Computer Networking Associate teaching assistant and finding out how to train to become a tutor.”