A recent graduate has spoken about how the University of Leicester’s journalism course helped her land a job at one of the country’s top newspapers.
Kelis Cassia Edwards studied Journalism BA at the University of Leicester and graduated in summer 2023 at De Montfort Hall.
Since then, the 21-year-old has gone on to land the position of Editorial Assistant working at The Mirror at its headquarters in Canary Wharf, London.
Kelis, who grew up in London, said that her drive to work in the newsroom comes from her childhood. She said: “Growing up, I always loved to read and I think that led to me going into journalism.
“I always used to have a bedtime story from my parents or my sisters, because I am the youngest of three, and that then led to me collecting a lot of magazines.
“It could have been Fabulous magazine or any type of fashion magazine. I would spend all of my pocket money at this one newsagent on the corner at Portobello Road in London and buy everything that they had.
“That is how it sparked, just by reading and being interested in what people have to say really.”
Kelis moved to Leicester to start studying to be a journalist in 2020. When asked what drew her to the city and the University, Kelis said: “I just felt like I wanted to see another city. I had lived in London my whole life and had never known anything else.
“I came to an open day at the University of Leicester with a friend and met the journalism team and I just fell in love with it.”
Kelis said: “I liked the way they were teaching the course. It was very future thinking, rather than just learning shorthand, which you only really use in court.
“It was very much mixing traditional methods and modern methods and that is what made the course interesting.”
She continued: “There was a lot of analysis, which I think is really useful. There were also a lot of criminology and psychology-based modules which I found really interesting and one thing the University of Leicester emphasised a lot was media law and how to respect people’s dignity.
Talking about what she liked about Leicester as a city, Kelis said: “I really liked living in Leicester because it was an easy commute, it has really nice parks, decent shopping centre and people are just friendly. It is good to meet people from different walks of life.”
