A student from East Northamptonshire has graduated from Bangor University after combining full-time work with a degree and also finding time to travel the world and fit in some voluntary work.

Jake Sallaway-Costello, 20, from East Northamptonshire received a BSc (hons) in psychology with clinical and health psychology degree from one of the country’s leading psychology departments.

Alongside his degree, Jake also studied Welsh during his time in Bangor

He said: “I started taking Welsh lessons from the week I arrived in Bangor, and have just completed the third year of my course. Last year I won the Dysgwr y Flwyddyn – Learner of the Year award from Coleg Menai-Llandrillo, and have since been awarded nationally recognised qualifications in the Welsh language.

“I participated in many voluntary projects during my degree, such as the Profi project, Aspirational Mentoring and Peer Guiding. I also undertook lots of voluntary work with external organisations, which ranged from teaching people with disabilities to ski, to working with victims of sexual violence.

“In my second year I travelled to Krakow, Poland to visit Auschwitz Concentration Camp and Oscar Schindler’s Factory, in order to complement our social psychology module and see the power of social influence in the real world. This sparked my interest in the field and I have since travelled to Berlin, Germany to examine the role of social influence in the Cold War, and have recently returned from South Africa where I was gaining insight into the psychology of apartheid.

“Long-term I’d like to explore various research topics in health psychology, and even longer-term I would like to move to the US, but for now my plan is to do research at home, in Bangor.”