Student Ambassador
The Prince's Trust

Matthew C

0.00.00 I’m Matthew C. I’m currently at college doing a diploma in public services and I’m a young ambassador for the Prince’s Trust. I was 16 when I left school and I wasn’t a big achiever. I didn’t get the grades I predicted. Well I got bullied throughout school and I was scared to go to school in case the bullies were there and like so I didn’t go. I didn’t tell anyone.

0.00.30 I didn’t tell anyone I was scared in case like they found out that I told someone and come back to me even worse. So I just kept it to myself. I tried to commit suicide three times and like my mum stopped it like, and then like I got referred to a counsellor and anger management and then that boosted me up a bit more. My English teacher, Ms Lewis, she was lovely. She was, I could tell her anything and like she wouldn’t judge me or anything.

0.01.00 When I was down she like brought me back up, like made me smile, like telling me jokes and like just gave me moral support really. It knocked my confidence for a while and then when I started college I picked my confidence back up again because my tutor was saying I was doing some good work and getting the grades I deserve. The course that I’m doing is public service skills. You do fitness, you do citizenship, you do expedition skills as well, so like you’ve got the experience of doing the things that you do in a public service.

0.01.30 The course is a year which I finish in June and I hope to go into the Royal Navy. I wanted to be a fire-fighter to start with but then I learnt that in the Navy you can also, you also will be trained as a fire-fighter and cos my uncle was in the Armed Forces, I’m going to try and follow in his shoes. I was in the library doing some coursework and there was a man from the Princes Trust and he asked me if I wanted to join and then gave me a form and that to have a look at and then I rang him up and signed up for it.

0.02.00 To be a young ambassador it’s good because I can like voice my opinions across and like help other young people that have been in the situation I’ve been in. The Princes Trust, like gives you money to help you get into work, into a job or into education and I needed, I couldn’t afford the college uniform I needed and all the books and stuff, so they gave me a cheque for £55 to get all that I needed.

0.02.30 Both my parents are unemployed at the moment. My dad’s got something wrong with his back. My mum’s half blind. My parents have motivated me to get in like to the Navy, like they’ve encouraged me, they helped me fill my application form out and sent it out and they give me the bus fares to get to Wolverhampton and back, yeah, so they’re really boosting me. My nephew motivates me because I just want to be a role model to him all and I want him to be brought up in a good way so he doesn’t get bullied or he bullies anyone.

0.03.00 I just want him to be a good kid. I just want him to have a better childhood than I did and like I tell him if he’s got any problems or anything he can come to me all the time. I like dog showing. I’ve got a Staffordshire bull terrier which has qualified for Crufts. I’ve been doing it for about a year and a half now and we’ve won endless prizes. What I like the best about dog showing is the awards and all the praise you get and people coming up to you, shaking your hand and saying well done and all the attention.

0.03.30 I love the attention on me but yeah, it’s great. Teachers and family and friends, they all stood by me and like they encouraged me to stay alive really because there’s people out there who have been a lot, have been through a lot more than me, and they’re sticking it out so I was like why can’t I do it. So I’m still here, fighting strong, doing well for myself.

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