In this piece, we explore Daisy's journey at Loughborough, featuring highlights of her time here and the advice she would offer to future students thinking about taking the next big step.
Daisy was the first in her family to go to university and was able to achieve this through working hard enough to get into a grammar school, ultimately supporting her application to the University. She was invited by Loughborough to apply for an Opportunity Scholarship, offered to selected students who have a current household income of less than £30,000 per year and have chosen Loughborough as their firm choice.
During her time at Loughborough, Daisy fully immersed herself in student life, holding positions including Welfare and Diversity Representative for Harry French Hall, LSU Action Special Events Project Leader, and was highly commended for Most Improved Volunteer at the LSU Action Awards.
LSU Action is the home of volunteering at Loughborough with over 50 different projects running throughout the year. As the LSU Action Special Events Project Leader, Daisy’s main responsibility was to organise and run large events for the local community. These events included tea dances and cinema screenings for the elderly community and themed children’s parties such as 'crafternoons' and science experiments. Daisy worked in collaboration with fellow project leaders, various societies and the Action Administrator Anne Cato who recently received a University Medal.
Daisy commented: “Overall, I enjoyed every second of this experience and I was honoured to receive both Team of the Year and Project of the Year for the role alongside my co-project leaders at last year’s LSU Action Awards.”
Volunteering became a lifeline for Daisy, helping her combat homesickness and connect with others who shared her values. Daisy added: “A lot of the areas I've focused my volunteering on have been personal to me. For example, working primarily with the elderly helped me to feel less homesick as much of my time at home I spent with my grandad.
“Or looking at events to help with mental health or social isolation, as many people I knew growing up, including myself, had issues with this. Volunteering in areas I was passionate about helped connect me with likeminded people, which led me to making several of my closest friends.”
Building on her passion for community engagement, Daisy also took on the role of Welfare Rep for Harry French Hall alongside fellow student Atlas Alberich. They organised non-alcoholic events such as movie nights, tea and talks, game nights and BBQs for Harry French residents. They also shared social media posts on topics such as nightlife safety (particularly during freshers), LGBTQ+, consent and sexual health, mental wellbeing and mindfulness. Daisy said: “We worked collaboratively with the rest of our committee to ensure all of our events and media were accessible (as feasibly possible), and by the end of our tenure, retained Harry French's reputation as a top hall for welfare and diversity. We were rewarded for our efforts by receiving Oncoming Hall Reps of the Year at LSU’s Welfare and Diversity Awards.”
Alongside her volunteering and welfare work, Daisy was working towards her Industrial Design degree. She completed a placement year at Nissan working within the Future Technology and Trend Research team. There, she wrote and presented research reports on a wide range of topics. Her placement also offered opportunities to travel across Europe for automotive conferences, deepening her understanding of the industry.
For her final major project, ‘COCO’, Daisy focused on improving accessibility for neurodivergent individuals at concerts and festivals. COCO is a service that provides concert attendees with information and features such as LED effects, alerts for upcoming sensory changes like strobe lighting, and real-time location sharing with friends in crowded environments. Reflecting on the project, Daisy said: “This was very much a passion project for me, taking my love of music as well as my interests in pursuing a career based in accessible design and combining them both into a year-long project resulted in an idea that I'm pretty proud of.”
Daisy offered the following advice for incoming Loughborough students: “Talk to people and give different things a go! Nearly all of my friends I made were because I engaged in group chats, hall socials and societies and because when asked if I wanted to do something like help at a colour run, or go to a boardgame night, I said ‘sure why not’.
“A lot of people think that the only way to meet people at university is at the pub or club, which is certainly one way of doing it, but if that's not your thing then there are so many other ways of getting involved in the community. Put yourself out there and give things a go. Either you don't like it, or you open some new doors.”
Since graduating last month, Daisy has been exploring opportunities within the design sector whilst continuing to develop her portfolio through personal design projects. She remains committed to community involvement and plans to resume volunteering, potentially with the police, inspired by family members who volunteer in that field.
Daisy’s story serves as an inspiration to students looking to make a meaningful difference at Loughborough. If you’re interested in becoming a student at Loughborough, see how you can get involved in student communities such as LSU Action, Welfare and Diversity groups and AU clubs.