Growing up in South London, Destinee had her fair share of personal hardships as a child. After experiences of ill health affecting her direct family, she chose to study Pharmacology at Nottingham Trent University as an undergraduate before coming to Bournemouth to pursue a master's degree.
Despite being someone who is more introverted, Destinee places an emphasis on the importance on helping others.
“I think I’m the biggest introvert that most people ever meet. Being introverted can be a strength. So, I think I’m quite a good listener and I think I’m quite empathetic. I pick up on things, so people naturally feel comfortable to talk through their problems with me. So I think that lends to a career where I’m in a clinic and I can support and comfort people through their issues.”
After graduating, Destinee landed a professional role connected to her field of study, but found the Pharma sector didn't offer the rewarding opportunities to prevent illness and improve people's quality of life she was after. So Destinee left her job and spent a year in self-discovery, volunteering and travelling, before enrolling to do a master’s in nutrition and behaviour at Bournemouth University. The course in particular was something that attracted her to the university.
Destinee first got involved in SUBU when she was elected as a Student Rep for her course. She found out about the role in the first few weeks of term, and while it wasn’t the sort of opportunity that she would usually go for, she wanted to say 'yes' to a new challenge, so put herself forward and got elected. In the role Destinee was able to get to know her course mates better and with the diversity of students on her course, she learnt to deal with different people.
“I'm there for people if they have any questions or any problems. It allows me to get to know more people on my course. Because our course is very diverse as well, and everyone comes from very different backgrounds, in terms of careers and also internationally, being sort of a consensus voice and representing everyone was important to me. I just went round and had little chats with people, maybe when we're waiting for lectures or during lunch, just to ask how they're getting on, if they're ok, if they have any problems or any feedback for the course that could be worked on.”
While supporting all those on her course, Destinee was also keen to support individual students if they needed extra help.
“So there’s one lady on my course, I tutor her now, I've been tutoring her since January. Every week we meet. She wasn't having a good time and she's very busy. She works maybe 90 hours a week or something crazy and she didn't feel very integrated into the course or feel like she had people around her. Now she's doing so well.”
Alongside her duties as a Rep, Destinee has been supporting SUBU by working part-time as our International Buddy Scheme Admin Assistant, a scheme which is vital for supporting our international community.
Destinee’s hard work in SUBU was recognised in this year’s SUBU Awards. She was nominated for Student Staff Member of the Year for her work on the Buddy Scheme and won Health and Social Science Student Rep of the Year for her work representing the voices of students on her course.
Destinee also won two awards at the Health & Social Sciences Faculty awards for her contribution to student experience; The MSc Nutrition and Behaviour Awards for outstanding academic achievements, and the SUBU Award for outstanding contribution to the Students' Union.
Want to find our more about Destinee's journey with SUBU? Watche the video below.
You can also find the full 2023/24 Impact Report here.