Gergo Petrovics: “My teachers at Christ the King were a true inspiration to me,” says Real Estate Apprentice

Gergo Petrovics is two years into an apprenticeship in Real Estate, something he never saw himself doing when he started his A Levels at Christ the King.

“I came over to England from Hungary in 2010 with very little English, therefore my GCSEs weren’t great,” Gergo admitted when he spoke to our Alumni team at a recent college event. The alumni event allows former students to give constructive advice to our teachers to help them improve their relationships and teaching methods with current and future students.

“My teachers at Christ the King were a true inspiration to me,” he said. “It makes me want to give something back to the college where I came from. I would say my life was mediocre before I came to Christ the King, and got a lot better as I was there.”

Gergo described the situation that led him to change his mind about the direction in which he wanted to take his life.

“I chose my A levels in Maths, History and Law because I thought it would help me go into law or banking,’ he said. “But I was really stressed towards my A Level exams. I thought that going to university and paying nine grand a year and piling on more stress wouldn’t be the right choice. I wanted something where I would be able to work and study at the same time, earn a bit of money, and take the pressure off whilst still getting my degree.

“I started looking for apprenticeships and one in real estate came up – I thought I’d give it a go.

“Apprenticeships have a reputation for being only about manual labour, but I’m entrusted with a lot of responsibilities. Since I came out of college at the age of eighteen, I’ve been working for a huge real estate firm that are keen to show that they trust you. It makes you want to work harder and prove your worth.”

Gergo was no stranger to hard work during his time at Christ the King. “The classes were very relaxed, but at the same time we knew that we had to buckle down and do the work,” he said. “The teachers were very knowledgeable about the subjects and we respected them.

“Of course I loved my time at Christ the King socially as well,” he said. “Both of my best friends and my girlfriend went to CTK and I made a lot more friends. The best moments were Friday afternoons when we had three of four hours to relax and play football.

“Property is a very social industry. We go for drinks after work – so I still get my Friday afternoons but in a pub rather than the football field!”

Finally, Gergo had some words of wisdom to share about his time at Christ the King:

“It’s very important to work hard, of course that should be made a priority, but it’s also very important to enjoy your time at college because it’s the last time where you are around your mates. After that you tend to go nationwide and only see them a few times a year when you’re back for holidays. It’s important to just enjoy those two years and appreciate them.

“For me, it was pretty special.”