A Pharmacy graduate could bear-ly believe her eyes after getting a spectacular celebration gift on the first day of De Montfort University Leicester’s (DMU) summer ceremonies.
Pharmacy MPharm graduate Amirah Alazemi was the centre of attention at the end of Saturday’s first graduation ceremony as she stood outside with a gigantic teddy bear, given to her as a surprise gift for completing her degree.
The 21-year-old named the huge present ‘Mr Graduate’ and said she had no idea how she would manage to get it home.
She said: “My brother bought it for me; I don’t know how he managed that or how he got him in the car. My bedroom’s not even that big, I don’t know where I’m going to put him.”
Having come to the end of her degree, Amirah said she had found the course challenging.
She said: “It was hard but if you work for it, you’ll get it eventually. DMU is such a good place to study, so multi-cultural.
“I am originally from Kuwait and I chose DMU because my parents studied PhDs here. I’ve made some really good friends and I’ll miss them when I go home but I’m ready to start work now.”
Amirah was one of hundreds of students from the Health and Life Sciences faculty who donned their caps and gowns and crossed the central stage in The Venue@DMU to collect their degree certificates from Vice-Chancellor Professor Dominic Shellard and Deputy Vice-Chancellor Professor Andy Collop on the first day of ceremonies.
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Over the next week, thousands of students will celebrate the end of their studies and achieving their degrees by taking part in one of 20 ceremonies, joining friends and family at The Venue and in the surrounding Graduation Village.
Anisa Mahmood graduated from Pharmaceutical and Cosmetic Science, having completed a placement year
The 22-year-old said: “I’ve loved making new friends and having a really good relationship with lecturers. Coming to university can be so intimidating, wondering how it’s going to be.
“But DMU is the best; it offers you so many opportunities and they put so much effort into employability and graduate opportunities and that’s what you want as a student.”
As part of the course Anisa spent a year on placement with a Nottingham-based pharmaceutical firm and ended up helping save dogs across the world.
She said: “I gained real hands-on experience and worked on a £1 million project making medication for veterinaries, for dogs.
“I was able to tablet, do preformulation, I wrote reports and had one-to-one experiences. To do that on a placement year was a phenomenal experience.
“I am currently on a six-week graduate programme at an aromatherapy company through the DMU Graduate Champions scheme and I’m looking forward to completing that.”
Posted on Saturday 14 July 2018