The Firebird Volume 1 (2015-16) | Page 15

Student Stories Grey College Trust Awards 2015 Grey College Trust Awards Each year the Grey College Trust supports students in their endeavours The Grey College Trust, chaired by the Master of the College, exists to support the wider life and overall student experience at Grey College. Our Charitable Aims can be summarised as follows: - To provide funds towards the improvement of our buildings, facilities and grounds; - To provide assistance for any College Club or Society; - To provide Personal Development Awards, Scholarships and Bursaries for current students, allowing them to undertake extra-curricular activities and thus provide additional opportunities. One of the key ways we support our current students is through the provision of awards to allow them to complete activities which they would financially be otherwise prohibited from undertaking. During 2014-15 we supported students to undertake a diverse range of projects, some highlights of which are given here. Work experience at an Indonesian Hospital Jae Seon Hong shadowed a doctor in the hospital for three days per week for a month. At the end of the work experience, Jae Seon had firmly decided that medicine is the field he would love to enter in the future. As food and internal transport was cheaper than expected, Jae Seon was able to use the remaining part of the award to help out teaching English and Mathematics in an eco-micro school, called “Sekolah BISA!” a small school for 25 Indonesian children in a shanty town. The Bakewell Bakeoff The ‘Study India’ programme Lara Dolden, used money awarded by the Trust to go to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and perfom with the University Light Opera Group following two weeks of rehearsing in Durham. The play coincided with the BBC TV series, which ensured a sell-out 18-night run of the musical. Lara played the role of Flora Drizzle, an incredibly keen yet completely disastrous chemist and aspiring cook! By the end of it she knew every stage transition and lyric back to front. They were the first group to ever put on this new musical at the Fringe, a musical originally written and performed by some students from the Guildford School of Acting, some of whom attended performances of the show. Visiting India, Jess Angell learned about another culture, whilst discovering its work and study opportunities. She spent time in the colleges of Delhi Univsity, where the student work ethic was inspiring and their involvement in extracurricular activities was reminiscent of Grey! Time was also spent in a rural context, teaching history in a local secondary school. There was a huge contrast between this rural establishment and the urban one. Ultimately the two week programme has given Jess renewed confidence about her future - she wishes to work within the education sector. 15 Teaching English in China Emma Cooper took part in a Summer school programme run by the organisation IVSC, and was based in the city of Yangshuo in south China. During this programme she spent 5 weeks teaching English to Chinese children aged from 8 to 14. After this, Emma continued her trip, travelling for just over two weeks, seeing the beautiful Longji Rice Terraces, Chegdu and Beijing; watching Giant Pandas, visiting national parks and treking through the mountains of Western Sichuan. There was great variation in culture and landscape even within one of the country’s provinces. This extra time gave Emma more chance to practice her Mandarin for her final year.