Simon Lunter - HNC travel and tourism
Simon Lunter came to Scotland when he was just 11-years-old, he spoke no English when he started attending Deans Community High School 4 days after arriving in the country. During his first week there Simon was advised to take an English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) course. This led him to West Lothian College.
“I moved here because my mum and dad divorced and my mum decided to move to another country for new life opportunities, she asked me if I wanted to move out with her and ultimately I decided I thought it would be a great opportunity, so I moved with her.
“We moved to Scotland in August 2011, I spoke no English whatsoever when I moved. Four days later I started attending Deans Community High School where I was offered and advised to start taking the ESOL classes at West Lothian College which I have now been taking for around 3-4 years while I was in High School. It really helped me to see what college life was like and I enjoyed the very helpful and supportive lecturers I had like Ania and Kamil.”
Simon didn’t stop there however, he decided he wanted to get more out of college and applied to one of the courses after finishing high school.
“After I graduated from 6th year in high school, I decided to take NC Level 6 Travel and Tourism at West Lothian College and passed that. After graduating from NC Level 6 I applied for HNC travel and tourism which I also passed with a grade B in graded unit and I’m currently studying year 2 at Napier University business school at the Craiglockheart campus, undertaking the International Tourism Management (Hons).”
Reflecting on his time at college Simon notes the life skills it imparted to him, not just the lessons he learned from the curriculum.
“I think college has had a big and positive impact on my life as it helped me to build social skills and learn more about the way higher education works, it helped me to become more independent and manage my time more wisely.”