Having grown up in a small Brazilian town with parents who hadn’t finished high school, Camila has achieved the remarkable feat of graduating with a first-class law degree.
Date: 28 July 2020
Camila da Cruz Skuski, who has just graduated with a first-class LLB Law from London Met, first came to the UK from a small town in Paraná, Brazil. The first in her family to go to university, or indeed, finish high school, she discusses coming to London in search of better opportunities and the importance of being curious.
Asked how it felt to gain a first-class degree and for her reflections on her time here, she said, “I feel like I am fulfilling my purpose, that the first step in pursuit of my dreams has been taken. More remarkable for me than my grades was the whole process, the difficulties I overcome, the people I met on the journey, the times I helped and the times I was helped, the times I was afraid and decided that my dreams would be bigger than my fears.”
“What made me most proud about being part of the London Met, for sure, were the tutors. I can say that I always had the necessary support from my tutors, they were always very kind, they met my teaching expectations as a student and exceeded my expectations as human beings, they are people who really set out to help another to build a better future.”
London Met appealed to her partly for the opportunity to study in “one of the best cities in the world. Those of us who have the opportunity to study and start a career in a city, which is so well known around the world, brings a certain responsibility. You are conditioned to always give your best because you know that the competition is massive, but you know that your effort will always be recognised.”
As for the impact the worldwide coronavirus has had on her studies, and being part of a unique cohort of graduates who have had to finish their degrees and build a career in lockdown, she said, “I cannot deny it has been a very difficult period for us. Having to slow down our lives and put some urgent projects to the side causes anxiety and fear. Us third-year students, ready to take on the world, suddenly found ourselves at home, taking classes online, often having to become teachers ourselves, for our children. This certainly interfered at first, but it was necessary to develop a new routine. It wasn’t easy but has had a very positive side. It taught us that we were really the owners of our time and priorities.”
Asked what advice she would give to current London Met students, Camila said, “I would say persist in your dreams with passion, make sure you choose something that makes your heart beats in a different way, that motivates you to build your future. the days will be difficult, the responsibilities will be huge, and you need to motivate yourself daily to not let yourself or your dreams fall apart.
“For me personally, finding motivation every day means having family and friends to support and guide me, to have a religion to believe in and to follow, to have moments of leisure, to remember how pleasurable life is, to have a moment of reflection daily to think or write about my projects or changes that I must make. Another point that helped me a lot was volunteering. Donating a little bit of yourself is one of the greatest schools in life. And finally, research, research and research. Be curious about the world, it has an infinite number of possibilities. Believe that you too can succeed and make it happen. It just depends on you!”
Camila with her family