Tharange follows his dreams down under
Monday 26 April
The Career Academy at Cheadle & Marple Sixth Form College is producing the young entrepreneurs and business people of the next generation and Tharange Abeysinghe is no exception. In fact, his aspirations and ambitions know no bounds and following his graduation, he will be packing his bags to continue his education at University in North Western Australia.
What is even more remarkable is that Tharange, 17, from Davenport, arrived in England with his family from Sri Lanka six years ago unable to speak a word of English. As he explained,
"My father is a lecturer and he was offered a position at Manchester University to complete his PhD. Although the education system in Sri Lanka is very similar to here, I had never learned to speak English so it was a very steep learning curve to develop a command of the language in the two weeks before I started college, which was a challenge to say the least!"
Following his GCSEs, Tharange elected to continue his education at Cheadle & Marple Sixth Form College,
"I'd heard about the reputation of the college and its excellent results," he said. "In addition, I'd had several personal recommendations and as the emphasis was on individual learning and personalised support for students, I decided that this was the college for me! I was actually offered the Career Academy route in addition to my other subjects, during my first term and my father thought that it was a brilliant opportunity for me, so I applied and successfully passed the interview."
The Career Academy programme includes a six week paid Internship and Tharange was fortunate enough to be offered a placement at the college in the Adult Education Department, where his contribution resulted in the design and improvement of the ICT Learning Programmes.
"I've loved the internship because it provided such a valuable experience and, for me, what has been unique, is that in addition to being a student here, I've also been a member of staff," he said. "It is my ambition to start my own business in software and electronics, so this experience has been invaluable - you get all the job satisfaction, plus the business experience in the real world of work, in addition to developing all the necessary skills such as communicating with people, solving problems and generally gaining in confidence. It's an opportunity not to be missed and as the job market becomes even more competitive, I'd certainly recommend it to others and say go for it! I was also fortunate enough to have Philip Young from Royal Sun Alliance as my Partner in Business and Robert Clapham, as my internship supervisor. "
Robert Clapham, Adult Short Course Coordinator at the College, was impressed by Tharange's knowledge and skills,
"I wanted to ensure that Tharange had a valuable and challenging experience. We worked together on a couple of major projects during the summer and Tharange made an enormous contribution, impressing me with both his knowledge and ability, exceeding my expectations. Throughout the internship, he was dedicated, hard working and conscientious and carried out every task to a very high standard. I have no doubts that he will achieve great things in the future and I wish him every success at university in Australia.
Not one to rest on his laurels, Tharange has also found that his skills as a martial arts tutor are very much in demand in Australia and he has already been offered a position as an instructor alongside his degree in Software Engineering,
"I have a keen interest in martial arts and have a contact in Australia who has invited me to teach in his class," said Tharange. "Curtin University, Perth specialises in Software Engineering so I have the combination of a job and the ideal course for me. I've no qualms about travelling half way round the world because I just see this as an opportunity to develop my skills and education. I'm basically a very independent person and although I'll miss my family for four years, it's only a small amount of time in the whole scheme of things to get the career I want."
Author: Janice West
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