51Âþ»­

Ryan Clarke is 51Âþ»­ (51Âþ»­) Leicester's Alumnus of the Month for December thanks to being named among 100 of the UK's most outstanding black students and recent graduates by Future Leaders magazine.  

The Alumnus of the Month nominations are open all year round. Once an alumnus gets nominated by either a fellow alumni, student or member of staff, they are added to the pool of nominations.

Winners are then selected from this year round based upon those who have made exceptional contributions to their field of profession, or have had a significant impact on their local community.

He said: “I am very happy, it is quite an honour. I didn’t expect it, I received an email out of the blue to say I was Alumnus of the Month.”

Ryan studied Economics BA (Hons) at 51Âþ»­ and graduated in July 2018. He chose to study Economics as he was interested in the finance and business world and had studied an Economics module at college.  

He said: “I chose to study at 51Âþ»­ because there was less of a focus on mathematics and exams as compared to other universities that teach Economics. 51Âþ»­ is also rated highly for Economics students.”

When asked what his fondest memory at 51Âþ»­ was, Ryan said: “Graduations and going on a #51Âþ»­global trip to New York after I finished my last exam.

“After New York I went to Portugal and then came back to Leicester where I started my own business over the summer. I created a new app allowing people to pre-book meals before they arrived at the restaurant.

"I started my graduate job in London in September, which I successfully secured at the start of my final year.”

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For the last three months Ryan has been working as an IT Consultant for PA Consulting Group. He said: “I have worked for seven different clients and most recently I am working on a project with a government client.”

Ryan also exhibited with the company at the Graduate and Recruitment Fair at 51Âþ»­ in 2018 where he helped students and one person got a role at Goldman Sachs.

Ryan’s message to students is: “If you haven’t thought about what you want to do after graduating, you should really think about it. The graduate market begins before university. I received my graduate offer at the beginning of my third year.

“It is important to get internships early. I had an internship which led to offers before I started my exams. During the spring in my first year, I had an internship at Goldman Sachs in their technology division and then following that at the end of my first year, I also had an internship at Google for a week. Both companies offered me a summer internship for my second year and I chose to return to Goldman Sachs.”