Amber

About Me

My name is Amber Marsden. I am a hardworking and motivated person with an outgoing nature. I enjoy working in teams and communicating with people and make sure my opinion is heard, whilst also ensuring I consider and understand other peoples opinions and beliefs. I have taken pleasure in studying psychology, business and PE for my A levels, where I have been able to expand my knowledge of these broad subjects whilst applying the things I have learnt in real life situations. Furthermore, I love sport and being active. I've been part of a girls' rugby team since I was 11 years old and have played with the same team, Old Crossleyans, since. I have had the honour of playing for Yorkshire twice in under 15’s and under 18’s which required many trials against hundreds of girls to get into the squad. I also contributed my rugby knowledge towards coaching the lower years of my high school to play rugby, mainly focused towards girls who had a stereotypical outlook on this sport. I had the chance to change this stereotype and encourage girls to get involved with rugby without having barriers such as stereotypes. This experience allowed me to gain strong communication skills, as well as pride from knowing I made a difference to some of the girls' perceptions of playing the game of rugby. I am also the captain of Old Crossleyans open age womens team which i was selected for by my coach who recognised my commitment to the team over the years and gave me the privilege of being in charge of the first women's team at the rugby club. In addition, I am also a carded boxer. I believe that a good state of mind can be more important than the physical side of previously have done mixed martial arts and I attended classes for 5 years and finally achieved my black belt in 2020, when I was age 15. This was a massive achievement for me as I trained hard throughout the 5 years to get to the point of getting my blackbelt. After this achievement, I came to the realization that if I put my mind to something, I will achieve it. I am motivated and driven. I have to work hard to get the results I need both academically and in my sporting performances. When I set my mind to achieve, I put my everything into reaching my goal.

Experience

The Basement Recovery project:

I have done work experience at a local recovery center 'The basement recovery project'. This was an addiction Rehabilitation Centre and I was able to sit in 2-hour long therapy sessions and develop my knowledge in techniques used to help people with their recovery journey. I was able to observe people individually as well as in a group setting, observing the differences between these two states of interaction. This experience changed my perspective towards people with a drug/alcohol addiction massively, as I heard many traumatic stories about their addiction, during a Cognitive Behavioral Therapy session. Due to having knowledge already on this type of therapy from my psychology class, I was able to gain a greater understanding of why this therapy is needed for people struggling with addiction, but I was also

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able to get a real life viewing of how it is done. I learnt many useful lessons from this, which will be carried forward into my future.

Waitress- Aya Sophia

I have experienced being a waitress at a Greek restaurant which I did for 3 years and gained communication skills as well as team leadership. This job as a waitress taught me how to work well under pressure and how to manage my time well in order to make sure customers were happy and the restaurant ran well. I picked up skills such as working behind a bar, helping in the kitchen and assisting with organizing events such as birthdays and different Kitchen Porter- Hare and hounds

I worked as a kitchen porter for 2 years which required me to wash up, put away and help the kitchen staff prepare food for customers.

Ackley bridge- Extra

I got the chance to be in Ackley bridge as part of the rugby team in one of the episodes. This lasted for 2 weeks and it was a fun experience and required a lot of communication and long hours.

West Yorkshire Police Officer. PCDA (Police constable degree apprenticeship)

I started the process to be a police officer in September 2023 and this was a 6 month process involving assessments and interviews. I went into the police degree apprenticeship role and started this in February 2024. I went through 8 weeks of training to become a knowledgeable police officer, and this entailed doing university essays, fitness tests and overall lessons on how to work in the service. Throughout these 8 weeks, i developed skills on how to work in a team, communication, dealing with different types of people from diverse backgrounds and many other important life skills. However, I made the difficult choice to leave the police force as despite putting 100% into the job and gaining so much knowledge , i felt as though it just wasn’t the right time for me but I now have developed even further a strong work ethic and it has increased my communication skills and confidence massively.

Education

Calder high school

GCSE’S

English language (AQA) 7

English Literature (AQA) 7

Business Enterprise (Pearson) Level 2 Distinction*

Geography (AQA) 6

Mathematics (Pearson) 6

Music Practitioners (RSL). Merit

Physical Education (Pearson) 7

Science Combined (AQA) 4 4

Crossley heath grammar school (Sixth Form)

A levels

Business (Pearson) B

Physical Education (AQA) C

Psychology Adv (AQA). D

EDUCATIONAL ACHIEVEMENTS:

At Calder high school I received an award for Student of the year for receiving no behavior points and for my focus during the exam period.

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At Crossley heath grammar school, at the end of year 13 I received an award for being the Best business student of the year due to my hard work ethic and resilience during my A levels from my business teacher. The grammar school also hosted an awards event where I received the Business student of the year award.