Telford archer Jacob aims for gold standard with college's support
An award-winning archer has thanked Telford College for helping him to balance academic studies with his international sporting ambitions.
Jacob Reid, 16, from Apley, signed up on a level three games and software development programme at the Haybridge Road campus instead of choosing A levels.
He said he was anxious to find a route of study which would not impact on his sporting ambitions.
Jacob, who is a member of Telford Archers, came to a taster session at Telford College in January, and immediately applied for his course.
He won the recurve cadet men’s gold medal at Archery GB’s 2017 Youth Festival in August, a month after making his international debut at the European Youth Cup in Porec, Croatia.
In September, he was then selected for the World Youth Championships squad to take part in the competition held in Argentina.
He said: “My plan is to complete my course at Telford College, take a year off to train for the Tokyo Olympics, and then go on to university to study either computer science or online security.
“The flexibility shown by the college has allowed me to retain my commitment to the GB team, and to increase my training – which will hopefully give me a better chance in future competitions.
“My tutor Shirley Reynolds prepared all of the work I was going to be missing for the world championships and made it available online, so I could access it when I had spare time. It has been a big help.”
Shirley said: “Jacob has settled well into the course, he is polite, well-mannered, mature young man who has a good work ethic. He has excellent attendance and punctuality, and is an excellent role model to his peers.
“Jacob is a well disciplined and motivated student who is working his studies around his training commitments for Team GB at archery, and I have high hopes of him achieving high grades in his studies - as well as in archery for the British team.”
