Graduate Lucy Treasure says Lancaster University has enabled her to land her dream job after she achieved a first class degree despite her anxiety.

“Although I'm incredibly nervous about graduating, it's such an important day for me as I've had to overcome a lot to be here. It's like the culmination of years of hard work, stress and self-doubt and the one day that I feel justified in patting myself on the back!”

Lucy graduated with a Masters degree in Ecology from Lancaster Environment Centre and already has a job lined up as a Graduate Ecologist at Atkins, an engineering consultancy in Glasgow.

“This made me realise just how much University had changed me as a person - prior to coming to Lancaster I would never have had the confidence to apply to Atkins and put myself forward for opportunities.”

She struggled with anxiety for the first two years at university.

“I was too anxious to go to most of my lectures and missed nearly all of my labs and field trips, which made catching up difficult. But the support I received from my tutors and the counselling service really helped me. Everybody was really patient.”

She was also diagnosed with dyscalculia after her tutor suggested an assessment by an educational psychologist, leading to her being given extra time in exams.

“I knew that I'd always struggled with maths, but I thought I was just really bad at it, I didn't realise that there was anything wrong.”

As a mature student, she first did A Levels in English and History at Blackburn College before working at Asda for a year and then switching to science at Burnley College because of her passion for environmental issues.

“It was really hard at first as I didn't have a science background and always struggled with maths, but I was interested in the subjects so it didn't feel so much like hard work.”

She gained A* A A grades in Biology, Environmental Science and Geography which earned her an academic scholarship at Lancaster University in 2015, followed by a first class degree in 2019.