Public services student Ryan James-Nield isn’t letting the current situation restrict his learning or exercise regime.
He is combining his Telford College studies with a creative fitness regime . . . and taking the opportunity to learn a new language at the same time.
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Ryan, from The Rock, is currently in the second year of his level three public services course.
He said: “I am managing my time at home very well between work, exercise and breaks. I’m
doing as much computer work as I would do in college every day, and submitting work through a cloud storage system.
“Our tutor and our class are communicating via our college email that we have linked to Outlook on our phones, which is working well.
“At 9am, we get an email from our tutor Archie Walkerdine about what’s going on, and what assignments are due in, and when.”
Exercise, of course, is an important part of the requirement for public services staff, and Ryan has found some creative ways of building a daily routine.
He explained: “To keep fit I go on a 5k run around my local area and in the town park – keeping to social distancing rules.
“I also do some weight training where I shuffle a pack of 10 playing cards, and do three sets of 10 repetitions of a certain exercise the card corresponds to, like bicep curls, or shoulder presses.
“I do the exercises with two dumbbells each weighing in at 7.5kg. I also try to do 10 press-ups each day.”
Ryan says his daily routine runs something like this:
- 8.30am: Get up and around
- 9am: Read tutor’s email and make breakfast
- 9.30am: Plan for the day, and prioritise work
- 10.30am: Either a break or an exercise period
- 11.30am: A half-hour break for lunch
He said: “I am eating as healthily as I can in this tough time. With every lunch I have a sliced apple, and try to eat more vegetables like carrots and broccoli with my dinner. However, if
there’s something sweet that’s about to go off, I’d be lying if I didn’t tell you I’d devour that too!
“After lunch, if I feel I have done everything to the required standard I will either brush up on my Japanese skills – I am currently learning the Hiragana alphabet, and it’s coming along quite well – or I go on video games with friends, seeing as we cannot meet.
“If I don’t feel I’ve done all my Telford College work to the required standard, though, work resumes again after lunch until it has been met.”
Ryan is keeping musically entertained at home by his Spotify playlist which ranges from Queen (‘I’m a massive Queen fan,’ he says) to Neil Young, and The Cure to Elton John.
He said: “My advice for students would be don’t worry too much – just work the same as you would in college or school. It’s easy to do nothing in this time period and just lie on your bed all day worrying if there’s going to be an apocalypse.
“The NHS is doing an absolutely amazing job at keeping this virus in check. All we have to do is keep our heads held high and try to forget about current times; call your family and friends, watch a funny movie, keep yourself happy.”
Ryan added: “For those who are fretting about their university placements, and those universities that haven’t got back to them yet, conditional university courses will turn to unconditional, and those universities that haven’t got back are working hard to get back to you.
