Evangeline Papanicola sitting smiling at camera in white dress

Evangeline's story

BSc (Hons) Digital Media

When it came to me deciding what to study in higher education, I didn’t know what career path to take until I came across the Digital Media course at the University of Portsmouth.

It seemed perfect because of the different areas I’d get to experience – from website development to graphic design – and I felt inspired by the course and the facilities in the Eldon Building when I visited it for the Applicant Experience Day. I’ve always lived by the coast, so Portsmouth seemed like a home away from home for me.

My first year on the Digital Media course quickly made me realise I had a passion for web development, and it became my dream career, while I enjoyed developing my existing graphic design skills too. In the third year, I was lucky to gain industry experience working for Sponge, a company that creates bespoke eLearning content for a variety of large clients. This was one of the highlights of my course, as I learnt so much about modern web development in a professional setting, with Sponge even nominating me for the University's CCI Placement Student of the Year award. One of my final year group projects consisted of a mobile app development, which gave me the chance to work with the Arthur Conan-Doyle Collection at the Portsmouth Central Library.

After graduation, I’ll keep pursuing my dream of working for a creative studio as a front-end web developer. I’m confident that the experience and knowledge gained in my time at the University of Portsmouth and during my placement year will help me with the plenty of opportunities on the horizon.