Subject wise, my additional options were Stats, Triple Science, History and ICT.  My favourite subject was History! Always thought very highly of the teachers I had for that subject: Mr Farrow, Mrs Halls and Mr Edwell. Activities wise, I did some School Council work and was a Year 8 Buddy.  Aspirations from High School, were to either go into IT, specifically Web design or Politics (clearly the one that stuck!).  Ended up closing with mostly C grades, with a few B’s dotted in.

 

Whilst at MHS I learnt:

 

Resilience—being able to face setbacks and continue to push oneself to keep going and achieve more.

 

Social confidence—Public speaking and networking are now part and parcel of my day to day job.  The ability to speak confidently, was in my opinion, the most important skill I developed whilst at MHS.

 

Memorable Moment—Having John Tickle from the Sky One show Braniac at Awards Assembly and the History trip to Belgium!

 

When I left Manningtree at 16, I went to Colchester Sixth Form college. In my first year, I resat GCSE English, alongside starting my A-Levels.  There I studied: Politics, RE, Business, Citizenship, Finance and undertook an Extend Project Qualification.  I also undertook an internship with the then Colchester MP Sir Bob Russell.  I finished with A*AAAAB and moved to the University of Sheffield to read Politics.

 

In my second year, I was selected to take part in a study exchange program with the University of Wollongong in Australia, who had a particularly strong Political Economy department.  After a year, I returned to England to finish my degree.

 

During my third year, I worked as an intern for Lord Blunkett, both in his House of Lords office and as a Communications Policy Officer for the Think Tank he chairs (the Sir Bernard Crick Centre for the Public Understanding of Politics).  My job highlight was helping to setup a public lecture by the Architect, Grayson Perry.

 

Particularly strong essays in the third year, gifted me a number of international travel opportunities.  I went to Dublin to collect an award for Europe’s highest ranked undergraduate Politics essay, on Ebola and Global Health Governance.  I also got to attend the G7 in Sicily, to report on automation policy.

 

I ended up graduating with the highest grade in my cohort and moving straight to work after flirting with the idea of a PHD.  I have worked as a policy advisor at the Cabinet Office, which is part of the Civil Service Fast Stream development programme and I am now at the Department for International Trade.  I love my job to bits, counting my lucky stars every day, that I get the chance to do it!