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April 4, 2024 & Johanna Jamieson

Rachel

Rachel has been with us for 10 years now as she started Upmo in 2014. One of the goals Rachel had decided to work on whilst in Upmo was to build her confidence in herself. Rachel is a very independent person who makes all of her own decisions though she wanted to build confidence in herself.

Recently Rachel decided that her ongoing goal of building confidence was complete. Through her dance workshop at Upmo, Rachel has learned various different styles of dance and this has led to her discovering a joy in learning more about wellbeing. Rachel has a particular interest in Tai Chi and has plans to lead her Dance workshop in a session of Tai Chi!

In the last 2 years, Rachel has performed multiple times with her Dance group. She was part of the Trimontium project, which was based on a collaboration between the Trimontium Museum and Upmo, details can be found here https://www.trimontium.co.uk/the-digital-romans/

Rachel also joined in on our Panto, Midwinter’s Gone Wrong! Where she was one of the fairies and performed in front of a full audience!

In her Art workshop, Rachel has been given full creative control of her projects and this has led to some beautiful art!

Watching Rachel’s confidence grow across the years has been amazing to watch, she is still a quiet person but she has truly came out of her shell. Spending any amount of time with Rachel is a blessing, she’s confident, smart, funny, and so creative.

Quotes from staff members in regards to Rachel:

“Rachel is very kind and encouraging with other students, she has a very calm nature but is also very chatty especially one to one or in a small group. She offers suggestions and words of encouragement if another student needs some inspiration. Rachel has a really wonderful imagination and when given the chance in a project isn’t afraid of really letting it run wild, she showed this in a character design project and a recent project about creating sculptures about ‘a wish’ where she created a beautiful imaginative garden.”

“Rachel is a wonderful person to be working with, and especially in group context where her calm and kind personality balances the rest of the group. Rachel is very enthusiastic, motivated and considerate towards others, and is always keen to try new things, take challenges and strive to improve.”