This visit to one of the World’s most famous institutions is almost part of the furniture for the annual PoW offer. The fantastic team at King’s College bend over backwards to give our Ambassadors an informative ‘behind the scenes’ tour of what student life looks like. Obviously King’s College Cambridge is a particularly iconic place, steeped in history, but for many on this trip, simply understanding what a University is and what students do, is the real learning curve. They also walk out having been welcomed as guests, two inches taller from the confidence that that brings.
Of course the trip was actually created several years ago by Carole Haswell. Carole may be an internationally renowned ‘exoplanet hunter’ (think Angelina Jolie with a doctorate in physics) but she was once a little schoolgirl on Teesside with a keen interest in space. Using her contacts at the University and the Institute of Astronomy, the morning visit was capped off with a brilliant exploration of the IoA with the ever enthusiastic Matt Bothwell. I have seen children over many years throw the most random (and often very well informed!) questions at him and he never fails to give a brilliant answer. Combining the activities Matt set up (library visit and telescope visit), student Hannah’s passionate talk about why physics is cool (couldn’t argue) and Carole’s delve into her own journey (the naughtiest looking one in her school picture) was a brilliant and engaging afternoon for everyone. One girl was adamant when she got on the bus that she was now going to be an ‘astro-anonemer’ – which is close enough for me 😂
A brilliant day and huge thanks not only to Carole, Matt, Ellie and the team but also the staff who were all there bright and early (6.30am) and are still ‘on it’ as we head up the A19.
Same time next year anyone?
