Amber Buckingham was selected by Sacla’ to receive a scholarship for her University degree course in 2016 as part of our partnership with them. She was awarded a first-class degree in Food Science in July 2020. Here she shares her story.
I have always loved food and known that I wanted to enter the food industry, initially, I thought this would be as a chef. Whilst doing my Hospitality & Catering GCSE my teacher introduced me to Food Science as a different route into the food industry. After doing some research, I quickly realized that this was what I wanted to do and set my goal to go to university to do Food Science. In order to do this, I went to Henley College to complete my A-levels in Chemistry, Biology, History and AS Maths.
Whilst I was in my second year of A-levels I attended a talk by Sacla’ about Food Science that had been advertised around the college. At the end of the talk, I applied for the Food Science Sponsorship that they were offering in association with Working Options in Education. This was the exact direction I was aiming for so it was a perfect opportunity for me! As part of the sponsorship process, I spent a day at the Sacla’ office in Beaconsfield and had to do a presentation on up and coming food trends. The panel for this included a representative from Working Options, Clare Blampied (MD at Sacla) and Marianna Giardina (Senior Technical & NPD Manager), which felt rather nerve-wracking at the time!
I was later contacted by Working Options in Education and Sacla’ to say that I’d got the sponsorship and I was thrilled! As well as a financial deal the sponsorship also included work experience at Sacla’ during my summers, within the technical & NPD team. This started to give me a real insight into what working within the food industry would be like, and I loved it! Since starting my degree in 2016 I have been back to Sacla’ almost every summer and even went back over Christmas 2019. Working within the Technical & NPD team, I have worked on a number of diverse projects and products with everything from pesto to panettone! This has helped significantly to build my experience, confidence and understanding of the food industry whilst being able to complete my studies.
In July 2020 I finished my degree and was over the moon to have received a First! After telling Sacla’ and Working Options, about my result I then received a phone call to offer me a full-time position with Sacla, which I happily accepted! As of September 2020 I have taken up the position of Technical & NPD Assistant, and am extremely happy and excited to be starting my career with such a great company!
