An Aberdeen graduate who faced a great loss during her studies said she wanted to do “something positive” by using her thesis to help others.
Rosalia McIntosh-Prentice said while studying psychology was not the original plan, she has loved the past four years at Aberdeen University.
However, during her third year of her studies she suffered a miscarriage.
After wanting to understand more of what she had been through, Miss McIntosh-Prentice found very little research on the matter. It was then she pushed for her thesis topic.
‘I wanted to do something positive with it’
When she lost her baby in February 2021, the 23-year-old said it was a “really big challenge.”
She said: “To find out I’m pregnant first and then to be excited for that and to plan and then to lose that, it was a big challenge.
“I continued studying though and I wanted to do something positive with it. Being a student, I wanted to find out what had happened to me mentally and physically and there wasn’t really much out there.
“So I decided for that to be my thesis to create that for someone else. So I interviewed the people who had miscarriages, males and females, and they talked me through their journey.”
Being a very sensitive topic, Miss McIntosh-Prentice said she had to “really push” to choose the topic due to its sensitivity but was grateful to those that supported her.
She added: “Doing that as hard as it was was the best thing ever and knowing it could help people too was really great.”
Carrying people I’ve lost along the way
The Aberdeen resident is now the fifth person in her family to be graduating from Aberdeen University.
Originally wanting to be a vet, Miss McIntosh-Prentice’s plans changed after she suffered a bad reaction to a set of vaccinations.
However, she said she will be continuing to pursue psychology looking for work experience before going onto to do a Masters and PHD.
Though there have been many ups and downs, Miss Prentice said it was “amazing” to finally be graduating with many of her friends.
“I think it’s an indescribable feeling,” she added. “It’s a sense of sadness in terms of what you’ve lost along the way but also you’re carrying anyone that you’ve lost with you and you know that they’re with you every step of the way.
“I carry my grandmas’ rings to keep them both with me and I know that they’re rooting for me.
“So I think it’s an overwhelming emotional experience of a mixture of some sadness but just complete elation as well and excitement for the future and excitement for your friends.”
- Use our interactive tool to check if your love ones are graduating from Aberdeen University this week
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