Danielle Roman

Chaplaincy Administrator, Leeds Trinity University

My goals in this role are to be a friendly face and a source of support and help to the staff and students of Leeds Trinity, to let everyone know that they are a person of value and that they are loved.

Why I chose to attend Leeds Trinity

I remember looking through the prospectus and seeing the Sports Development and PE course and I thought that was the course for me. My Mum and I visited the campus and I loved the small, unique and friendly campus (or TASC, as it was then). The sense of community was really precious. It was also close to home and I didn’t want to move too far away. My family dropped me off at the beginning of September 2005, the first person in my immediate family to go to university and, being the eldest child, the first to move out.

My student memories

Funnily enough, I wasn’t involved with the Chaplaincy at all. I had fallen away from the Catholic Church at that point in my life (but I returned a few years after graduation!). Beyond that, I was involved with the Women’s Hockey Team mostly, playing right defence. I didn’t own a mouth guard but quickly purchased one!

My best memories are from the relationships built up with the lecturers. We are extremely fortunate with the small campus and class sizes; students have the opportunity to build up effective dialogue with the lecturers. I remember in particular one lecture with Aled Rowlands.  We had had an Olympic event in the gym and our team had come last. We processed around the gym with the wooden spoon award to Whitney Houston’s One Moment in Time. I remember the experiences like that; the support, the laughs and the guidance from lecturers that enhanced my time as a student

My career since graduation

After I graduated, I started a part-time job at St John Fisher Catholic High School as the School Sports Partnership Administrator. It was a varied job, and it ranged from data input and analysis to facilitating sports events. The School Sports Partnership was focused on delivering traditional and alternative sports competitions through extra-curricular opportunities to primary and secondary school children. I had an advantage though - this was my old high school and the place where I did my second-year placement, which is why I fully support the work-based placement opportunities the University offers. This job, however, was a one-year fixed term contract.

After this, I struggled to get onto a suitable teaching course. After exhausting all possible avenues, I went full-time at my other part time job at Morrisons. This wasn’t exactly the way I had envisioned my postgraduate life to be, but I persevered and worked my way up to a managerial position in the ten years that followed. I knew I wanted to get back into administration, as I was so passionate about it. Through a friend, I went to work at a building maintenance company based in Leeds as the Helpdesk Administrator and I loved it!

The days went fast, and there was always something to do, and we had a lot of laughs. I hadn’t thought about leaving until a friend told me that the Chaplaincy Administrator job was being advertised at Leeds Trinity.

Returning to Leeds Trinity

A Priest friend sent me a message that the Chaplaincy Administrator job was advertised in his church bulletin that weekend. I read the job description and immediately loved the job and knew it was for me. Coming back to a place that was so welcoming was really attractive to me. I applied and got the job! I remember the Vice Chancellor ringing me to offer me the job and I couldn’t even say yes because I was so ecstatic!

My role is really varied, which makes the job extremely interesting. My main jobs are to share the love of Christ with staff, students and visitors of the university, run the social media streams, produce orders of service and design promotional material, be a listening ear and a source of support to staff and students, set up for events and make sure everything is ready, order supplies for the Chapel, and much more!

My goals at Leeds Trinity

My goals in this role are to be a friendly face and a source of support and help to the staff and students of Leeds Trinity, to let everyone know that they are a person of value and that they are loved, doing the job I love well and developing it where I can.

My advice for others

It took me ten years to find the job that I love. My advice would be to persevere with whatever steps you need to take to get there and get the experiences and qualifications you need to be able to do the job you love with passion and integrity.

With regard to being a Chaplaincy Administrator or any other Chaplaincy job, as well as continually reading and researching the areas you are working in, I would advise people to develop a personal relationship with Jesus. Regularly enter into conversation (prayer) with Him, knowing that He is with you in everything you do and encouraging you to make the right choices and decisions. To be able to bring people to Jesus, we need to know Jesus ourselves, and we can only do that through prayer.