A former CWC student last week headed to New York City where she has secured a work placement as part of her undergraduate degree. Samantha Storey, 21, who completed the BTEC Extended Diploma in Performing Arts in 2014 is currently enrolled on The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama’s Drama, Applied Theatre and Education course. During the third year, students are required to take up placements and Sam has secured a role working with young homeless people and Broadway actors for the next two months.

“My placement is with an organisation called Covenant House International who house about 300 homeless youths. They give them food, clothes and house them and help them create a plan and filter back into society,” said Sam. “The project I’m working on is called Crossing Bridges, where Broadway stars and the homeless youths are brought together to create a piece of theatre tackling the stigma of being homeless in New York.”

Covenant House New York began more than 40 years ago and today there are 21 Covenant House locations across America, Latin America and Canada, serving more than 56,000 homeless young people every year. It is now the largest privately funded charity in the Americas and seeks to break the cycle of chronic adult homelessness, with comprehensive aftercare including health care, employment training, GED preparation, legal services and drop-in services.

“I always love coming back to CWC and seeing my old tutors because without their help and support I wouldn’t have applied for the course at Central; my tutor Darren was the one who actually told me about it,” said Sam. “I’m really excited to go to New York and work with young people and theatre stars. It will definitely be a new and unique experience and I’m really grateful that I have this opportunity.”