“I currently live in Guatemala City and the A Level education I require is not available here, so I had to find a different way to continue my education. The answer has been to learn with Open Study College.” – Hunter, 18, Guatemala
Hunter is a new student, having just started their distance learning journey with Open Study College in October. Studying A Level courses in Environmental Science, Biology, and Geography, Hunter explains that distance learning was the only way to continue studying:
“This is my first time studying via distance learning. I currently live in Guatemala City and the A Level education I require is not available here, so I had to find a different way to continue my education. The answer has been to learn with Open Study College.
“From a very young age, I moved around quite a lot and recently did again. I’ve lived mainly in Europe, so I’ve been studying with the English system of GCSEs and A Levels. When we moved to Guatemala, my parents luckily found OSC, and I was able to continue my education. I wanted to complete my studies as I believe when applying for university this higher standard of education could possibly give me a better chance of securing a scholarship. Open Study College were so helpful as they were able to supply me with the necessary materials and support that I wasn’t able to receive when I moved.”
Hunter discusses passions outside of studying and talks about juggling distance learning around current workloads with a dream to go to university one day:
“I’m about a quarter of the way through most of my courses as I only started in October. I also fit these studies around my current job singing in a restaurant during weekends. Dancing, singing, and acting are my greatest passions and my plan after completing my OSC courses is to hopefully obtain a scholarship and apply to a musical theatre university.”
Speaking about challenges and offering some advice to students considering this route of learning, Hunter said: “At first I found consistency difficult, as it is easy to get distracted and watch a film or sleep instead of studying. However, I’ve been working on my self-motivation and have really improved. It’s a lot of work but it’s very liberating, and studying this way allows you to focus more on yourself and your mental health. For people with really busy lives and other commitments, it allows you to work flexibly around it and not have such a strict schedule like you would at school. I would 100% recommend distance learning with OSC!”