b'18|IET Futures FundBecause of the bursary I was given the time and resources to further develop my skills BECAUSEoutside of my degree HAVING ROLEAlongside his studies, Chris set up Role Models Yorkshirea non-profit that helps young people from disadvantaged backgrounds go to university MODELS IS SOand/or achieve their career aspirations. Coming from a low-socioeconomic background, and IMPORTANT being neurodiverse, resulted in Chris believing that he would never be able to go to university because he thought university isnt for people like me. However, while working at Portakabin in York, Chris had a chance to meet with a University of York student. After Chris expressed that he dreamed of being an engineer but didnt think that university was for him, the university student managed to help Chris see the potential that he had to succeed.That chance meeting with a positive role model Chris Cooper is in his final year of anresulted in Chris resitting his GCSEs, going to MEng in Electronic Engineering at thecollege and then becoming a student at the University of York. He is an EngineeringUniversity of York himself. Horizons Bursary Recipient, supported by Spirax-Sarco Engineering. He isThis led to him wanting to inspire and support looking forward to joining Spirax- others to fulfil their potential. He explains how the Engineering Horizons Bursary has helped him in his Sarcos Graduate Leadershipcourse and gave him the freedom to develop his Programme as a Graduate Engineer. skills and help others to get into engineering:'