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The Class of 2019
Nathan Sparkes (12-19) Third and final year at the University of Exeter, complete. I graduated at the start of July and then set about assuming some genuine responsibility regarding where my life was heading, but not before I had some fun. Seeing as the majority of my OA friends had also just finished their degrees, we made sure we exploited the summer days prior to everyone opening new chapters as graduates. A few visits to the cricket, a quick trip to France, and a couple of belated 21st birthday celebrations - I couldn't have asked for a better way to spend my time with the boys. I also managed to jet off to Catania, Sicily, before realising it was a very short journey down the coast from where we were on a Year 10 Geography field trip - safe to say my partner who I was travelling with didn't hear the end of my Mount Etna trivia. I've contemplated taking her to Swanage next year to continue the tradition... Come mid-August I'd managed to find success in a final interview and secured a place on the Data Product Consultant stream at Kubrick Group. I'm currently eight weeks deep into the 15-week training period which so far has given me a comprehensive grasp on SQL and Python and developed my skillsets in various aspects of product delivery and stakeholder engagement. Following the 15-weeks I'll be placed with a client for a two year placement, with the option to stay on, acting as the intermediary between business management teams and technical teams to help implement advanced data-driven solutions. I've really enjoyed the learning process so far, and having the opportunity to utilise my skillsets on real-world problems during training has proven to be very rewarding. Jacob Page (12-19) As of this summer, I have completed my journey in higher education, graduating with a degree in Geography (more of the wooly social science-y stuff than oxbow lakes and glaciers). Untouched by the vagaries of COVID restrictions, my final year was a blast, and as close to the authentic Cambridge experience as I've had. Namely, May Week - the student body's cathartic, collective exorcism of exam season stress that inexplicably takes place in June - was a highlight of my time at university. The day after Graduation, the lease for my university digs ended, and I was unceremoniously dumped back into South London. Unlike previous end-of- academic-years, this homecoming was not bookended by a return to an institution in September that I've grown used to over two decades of participation in the education system. As a result, I was elated to embark on what at the time felt like a potentially decades-long summer holiday. Memorable trips to Paris, Montenegro, Provence, and Jordan ensued in quick succession, with the latter involving my first bout of solo travel. However, all good things must come to an end. This tired yet sadly accurate idiom manifested as the drying up of my bank account, and as of October, I was rudely confronted with an unplanned and slightly frightening future. My calendar looked shamefully sparse, populated only by an automatically syncing list of Chelsea fixtures, the next full moon (for some reason), and a 6-month wait until a Grand Tour of Europe. The solution to this temporal void emerged in a job at the Curzon cinema in Victoria, where I am currently working. As jobs in hospitality go, it is a walk in the park, and the fairly quiet role has given me enough time to perfect the art of staring into the middle-distance, learn French(-ish) on Duolingo, and has afforded me a firm grasp on the ins-and-outs of Health and Safety Bureaucracy. Whilst living at home does involve a slight curtailing of the university-era freedom I enjoyed, the value of avoiding London rent prices (fingers crossed my mum doesn't get any ideas) cannot be overstated. Honestly, I have very little idea of where I'll be (literally and figuratively) this time next year, but I'm in no hurry to work it out.
At the end of the College’s Quatercentenary, we thought it would be interesting to follow the lives and careers of the Class of 2019. Their stories continue here.
James Barnett (10-19) I have entered my final year as an apprentice at Rolls-Royce and have accepted a job role as a Manufacturing Engineer for Nuclear Special Processes at Rolls-Royce Submarines. I will be taking my End Point Assessment and writing my dissertation this year, and so by the end will transition (hopefully seamlessly!) into my new role. I have been living in Derby for the last three years, throughout the course of the apprenticeship, and have just celebrated the anniversary of buying my first home on the 21st September this year. The time has really gone so quickly! Rolls-Royce have been fully supportive with both work and supporting me through my degree, and I genuinely feel so lucky to have been accepted onto the programme and been given this opportunity. In January, I will be at the House of Commons to meet with MPs and business leaders to discuss degree apprenticeships and why they really are a realistic alternative to university. Malcolm Eisenhardt (08-19) The last year has seen the return to normality for university students in the UK; in-person lectures, BUCS sport and social freedom. I couldn’t have wished for a better 2nd year at the University of Leeds. I was nominated as social secretary for the football club and accepted a place at Ludwig-Maximilian University in Munich. I have been in Munich for a few months now and I am a big fan of the city and the lifestyle, even if the Bavarian people are on the grumpy side... I am taking a mixture of Politics, History and Human Geography courses and I’m living centrally in Ludwigvorstadt-Isarvorstadt (I still struggle to tell people where I live). The late October start to university in Munich meant my summer holiday ended up being almost four months long. I enjoyed travelling with friends in Spain and visiting my family in the States. There was plenty of football too involving Fulham games with my dad and playing for the highly in-form OAs. To any OAs thinking about getting involved with the football club, I definitely recommend it. The club has three teams and a great social side with pub trips and curry nights after games. I am eager to complete my registration with a football team based here in Munich - DJK Pasing. This will keep me in good condition for my return to OAs/university football. Going forward, I am excited to fully settle into Munich and travel around nearby Europe during my holidays/weekends. Trips to Berlin, Prague and Vienna are all in the works. After this year, I will be back in Leeds for my final year before having to join the real world... I am drawn to a job within sport but with two years before real life begins, I try not to think too far ahead.
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