Inspirational Buncrana student, Ronnie Gomersall, graduated from Ulster University’s Derry campus today with a degree in Accounting.
He has also been named UU’s EDGE Excel Student of the Year, inspiring many across the university community with his story of resilience and determination.
For Ronnie, however, school was not always easy. As an autistic person, he found the mainstream system didn’t meet his needs, the hours were too long and it was too overwhelming.
When he left secondary school, he went on to study IT for two years. While Ronnie appreciated the skills he had learnt, IT wasn’t what he wanted to pursue career-wise.
During his subsequent break from education, Ronnie began learning about accounting in his home life and realised it was something he enjoyed.
After a six-year break, he took the plunge and applied to study at the Ulster University Business School on the Derry campus.
“I started learning it to help my parents and I thought it was interesting and satisfying when everything finally clicked into place and the accounts balanced,” he explained.
“I decided to apply to Ulster University to learn more about it, and to give myself career prospects in the subject, because it felt like the first time in my life, I had found a subject I felt like I could work in. I was always looking for career possibilities, but nothing had ever clicked into place.”
Then the Covid-19 pandemic struck in semester two and studies were moved online as the world went into lockdown.
Creating an active community to help people connect during lockdown was important to Ronnie, and he took on the role as LGBT+ Society Chair to help him do this. He was enjoying his studies and in third year had the opportunity to put what he was learning to practice with a placement, which he found challenging at times.
In September, Ronnie will return to Ulster University Business School for his Master’s degree, MSc International Accounting with Analytics, and is hoping to do part-time accounting work alongside his studies to continue to develop his skills in a practical way.
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