My name is Jamie Beggs and I am from Larne, Co. Antrim. Like many 16 year olds I left school not really knowing what to do. Having gained five GCSE’s I very much wanted to continue in education. I always had an interest in working outdoors, I enjoyed helping my Dad cut lawns during the summer and thought working outside would suit me, so I started a BTEC National Diploma in Horticulture at Greenmount Campus.   

What I want from a career is something really challenging and where I can use my skills to do a good job. I enjoy the mix of skills training that we do at Greenmount, there’s a big range of skills, from sports turf management to plant propagation to plant identification to machinery work. The tutors always take the time to show you how to do the skill in the safest way and give you the support that you need. The main highlights of the year so far have been the residential skills training event at Loughry Campus.  I am looking forward to doing my 10 week industry placement over the summer, we start placement in June, and I hope to work for a local landscaper or the local council.

To prepare for industry experience I have already completed lots of short courses to make sure I am ready for work in the industry. These include, First Aid, Construction Skills Register apprentice card (CSR), Pesticide Application courses (PA 1 and 6) and Manual Handling. These courses have been very useful, and I have passed all of them so far.

I live on campus which has many advantages as well as only having a few metres to walk to get to class each morning. I have met people who share similar interests and we all learn from each other.

Jamie Beggs, from Larne learns how to use sports turf machinery on the National Diploma in Horticulture course