Access student Nicola James, from Exeter, has been celebrating a double achievement. Not only has she been offered a place at the University of Exeter to study Liberal Arts but she has also just won a national poetry competition, the prize meaning her work will be published in an anthology.

“When I entered the poem into a competition, I never thought I would get picked, never thought that anything I write would be published by someone else. It makes me feel so amazing.”

So why did she sign up for an Access course at Exeter college? “I’ve been into a poetry for a while and writing is a big hobby of mine, I wanted to do English and I wanted to go to uni to do this so this was the perfect way to get in. I’m doing an English GCSE as well so it’s been a lot to take on but it's been really amazing, I love the access course. The other thing was that I wanted to prove to my daughter, whose ten, that it doesn’t matter what start you have. You can do anything you want and go after your dreams.”

Nicola says that the access course has helped her self confidence. “I never thought I had the ability to write essays and I’ve got distinctions throughout. When you get good feedback from your lecturers it just makes you feel really good about yourself. It’s been really fun as well, everyone’s great.”

She has now been writing poetry for two years and can’t imagine ever giving it up. “I first started writing as an outlet for how I was feeling and to help me come to terms with what was going on in my life. I just find that when I write it gets rid of all the bad feelings so I started a blog and started getting support from other writers. The more I write, the more it becomes my way of life.”

Nicola’s advice for anyone thinking of doing an Access course is to go for it. “The access course has helped me so much. I’ve made some really good friends and all the tutors and lecturers are really helpful. It is a lot of work, it is hard but it's definitely worth it.”

Nicola has now written over 200 poems and is hoping to get them all published into an anthology. “When I look back at what I’ve written it makes me realise that I was in a really bad place but I’ve turned that into something really beautiful.”

In the meantime you can read her work online at: www.nickitjames.com

If you’re thinking of studying an Access course then you can find out more here.