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Travis Yip (15-19) Over the last couple of months, I have been interning in the Data Outreach and Development Branch under the UN’s Department of Economic and Social Affairs. We mainly support the Inter-Agency and Expert Groups on SDG Indicators (IAEG-SDGs) on the development of the SDG Indicators and the story-telling pieces of the SDG data pipeline. I joined the team a month prior to the annual High-Level Political Forum, during which the Sustainable Development Goals Report 2022 was published. I helped gather resources for the compilation of the Report. I also worked on an associated publication that compiles SDG stories from across the regions, highlighting the communal efforts that are behind the SDG progress we observed. Afterwards, I did an in-depth review of the 2022 Voluntary National Reviews (VNRs) on national SDG progress, particularly on
Ollie Foster (08-19) It is quite hard to put into words the vast array of emotions and experiences I have had from my year abroad at Hong Kong University. Whilst perceivably a daunting and stressful prospect, I have experienced somewhat of the other. My year abroad began on 17 August 2022, in a less excitable mood – I was to be forced to quarantine in a hotel room for three weeks. Yet the experience was, rather questionably, one I would look back at fondly; being able to adjust to the comparatively new food and amend my new sleep schedule. Five PCR tests and 10 Rapid Antigen Tests later – I was free. Hong Kong is surprisingly very diverse in the activities one is able to do. For the first couple of weeks of my time, I was able to hike to the Tian Tan Buddha (not for the faint-hearted I assure you) but also meet other exchange students for beach parties and the occasional night out in the club centre of Lan Kwai Fong. A significant amount of motivation for my travels to Hong Kong was based upon attempting to continue my cancelled gap year and, in part, this has already begun. I was able to travel to the Philippines during the reading week, on what was a much- needed escape from the hectic life of living in Hong Kong. However, the work culture at Hong Kong University is significantly different from that I experienced at my home university of Durham and one I have had to adapt to quite quickly. Presentations are regular and three-hour lectures are timetabled – not only this but I now take five modules each semester instead of a year. Having a considerable amount of more work it has been difficult to fully appreciate Hong Kong and with the upcoming semester in 2023 I fully intend to realise the intrinsic culture, and unfamiliar foods, Hong Kong has to offer. Even so, I would personally recommend any future university student to consider doing a year abroad in Hong Kong, it is very much worth it for the people you meet and experiences you will remember for a perceivably long time. Harry Goodwin (14-19) Three long-seeming years since I left Dulwich, I have returned to South London for good after graduating from Cambridge. I’ve just started as a reporter at The Sun, right next to the Shard. My job on the UK news desk takes me all over London (and truth be told, the internet) hunting for stories. I’ve had my first few exclusives: the best ways to dodge a parking ticket, a pub in Essex whose Declan Rice mural was signed by Declan Rice, a thirty-foot cycle path in Yorkshire which runs straight into the pavement and has two lampposts in the middle of it. I’m currently asking professional crime scene cleaners for their tips on how to get rid of red-wine stains. Should any Old Alleynians have any stories for me, I’m all ears! The ancient Dulwich tradition of deadline-scraping last-minuteism has served me well in these first few months of my career. A love of language and appetite for fun are two other valuable legacies of five happy years in SE21. Tabloid journalism is not for everyone, but as a rookie reporter you are given interesting and tricky work much earlier than you would at a broadsheet, and from day one you get a feel for the nitty- gritty textures of real life in different parts of Britain. I spend a sizeable chunk of my time working towards my professional certificate at the PA Training centre just over Southwark Bridge. Law is going surprisingly well, shorthand is well, surprising. At home, I’ve belatedly learned how to cook in a chop-it-all-up, chuck-it-all-in manner ideal for post-pub sustenance. If ever in my life I was as busy, as flustered and as excited as I am now, it was in my final year at Dulwich. A pandemic and a degree separate Year 13 from Floor 12, but I would like to think those who taught me then would like the look of what I’m up to now.
the importance of data and statistics for the monitoring and evaluation of the SDGs and how they should be integrated into the policy cycle. This exercise would later lead to the 2022 Synthesis Report on the VNRs drafting the Practical Guide for Evidence-Based Voluntary National Reviews. In these final weeks of internship, we have already begun the planning for the SDG Report 2023. This is so far my favourite part, using SDG data from our global database to develop new visualizations. This includes regional data fact sheet, that may be inaugurated in the coming reporting cycle. It was truly a blast starting afresh in New York and crossing paths with a diverse mix of people. I also took the opportunity and attended several in-house training sessions and met with staff members from other divisions within the UN Secretariat that conducts data mining and web-scrapping to provide real-time information. Nonetheless, I think I have experienced most of what the city could offer, and I’m prepared to bid farewell to this city and back home to finish my Bachelor’s in global health. Looking forward, I’m considering taking a Master’s in data science to pursue a career in this field and a pathway to relocate back to London.
Idris Owen (14-19) Having left Dulwich back in 2019 and with little to no definite goal of what I wanted to do moving forward in the ‘outside world’, University offered me a chance to explore both my academic and non-academic passions. Whilst the College had allowed me to take part in a wide range of extracurricular activities, from music to sport and from art to drama, a heavily increased workload and ‘student living’ led to the realisation that you simply cannot do it all; something I aspired to do during my school years. Thus, I narrowed down my passions to sport, putting all my eggs in one basket and being part of the Durham University Rugby Team (DURFC), a commitment which included pitch sessions three times a week, gym three times a week as well as recovery and analysis sessions. Balancing this and academic work was a job in itself, but the community and love of the game was simply enough to tackle this work- play lifestyle.
Having put all my eggs in one basket, I tore my ACL and MCL for the second time this summer on the first day of preseason. Having suffered the same injury back in Year 13, I knew too well the lengthy impact this would have not only on playing sport, but my general life, with the injury being as much as a mental battle as it is a physical one. Whilst rehab is still ongoing, it has given me no choice but to focus on my studies, with there being little excuse to my preoccupation. As such, having decided to study Geography BA at university, I have more free time, more time to focus on my work and most importantly, more time to read wider into the academic discipline. With my dissertation in mind, I have shifted my interests into the geographical subdiscipline of political geography, looking at the geopolitical ties within the Israel-Palestine debate. Outside of studies, my spare time allowed for my ‘entrepreneur mind’ to awaken. With fitness and wellbeing having been a key part to my daily life, I began an online personal training business, helping clients globally improve their lifestyles, welfare and general fitness. From nutrition to workout programmes I grew it from the safety of my university halls room to a point where I now sub-divide the work, employing nutritionists and media team to further its online growth. The last few years have been a whirlwind of experiences, growing me to become a better and more complete individual, seeing failures as simply a minor success in disguise. Whilst the university lifestyle is by no means ‘easy’, it has the ability to help shape and form us in preparation to adult living, guiding us towards the means of right and wrong.
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