Here's to us

Here’s to us, the class of 2015. The first class to deal with the dramatically increased tuition fees, the class who opted for an education when everyone ran for paid apprenticeships, the class who are now looking for jobs when unemployment is at its all-time high, but we are the class who, against all odds, will succeed.

Because we are the class that faced the most hardship when it came to university, we are now the ones most determined to succeed. I know my classmates and I will stop at nothing to justify the price we paid for an education and the work we had to put in to get our monies worth.

I graduated next to some of the most amazingly determined and brilliant people I have ever met last month and I wish them all the best in life. I hope they find amazing jobs as journalists, writers or whatever else they are inspired to be and I hope they are all able to sit back in fifty years and say “I did it, against all the odds I did it!”

We all worked our asses off to stand in the Liverpool Cathedral last month and shake hands with staff members and take pictures of us reluctantly throwing our over-priced caps in the air. The rain poured down on us but nothing could dampen our spirits.

You could sense the joy and relief all around you as students, friends and families celebrated three years of university coming to an end, knowing it was highly unlikely that I would ever have to sit through another politics lecture was a calming thought as I popped open a bottle of champagne.

As the celebrations began to draw to end that day the joy and relief from earlier was saddened as we said goodbye to friends made over the last three years. Tearful goodbyes to friends and lecturers who had got me through some of the worst times in my life, and had also shared in the highest, followed by promises to stay in touch and meet up regularly, and then they were gone.

Later on in the evening myself and Josh went to Jamie’s Italian to celebrate with food and cocktails, it was a lovely evening that finished off the day perfectly. We then went back to our hotel and passed out from exhaustion after an extremely long and emotional day.

So let’s raise a glass for the class of 2015, who were royally shit on by on their government, but despite all odds made it through. Will the fees and hard work pay off? Only time will tell. But here’s to us anyway for surviving the hardships we faced over the last few years. We made it this far, now let’s show them how much further we can go.